Senate Republicans and the White House are discussing a potential deal to end the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which has led to long lines at airport security in recent days and has forced many of the agency’s employees to go without pay for more than a month.
The deal under discussion would fund DHS except for the part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement charged with arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants, according to three people familiar the plan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Democrats have not agreed to any deal yet, though Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a member of the party’s leadership, expressed optimism Monday night that talks were moving in the right direction. Republicans, who control the Senate 53-47, would need the support of at least seven Senate Democrats for any deal to overcome a filibuster.
The potential agreement would reopen DHS, which has been partially shut down since Feb. 14. Democrats in Congress refused to vote to fund the agency without new restrictions on federal immigration agents, which Democrats demanded after agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.
The White House has been negotiating with Democrats for more than a month, but the two sides have not reached an agreement despite increasingly long waits to get through security in many airports. President Donald Trump deployed ICE officers to airports on Monday to help relieve TSA officers.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) expressed new enthusiasm that a deal was possible after several Republican senators returned from a White House meeting Monday evening. Sen. Katie Boyd Britt (R-Alabama), who is representing Senate Republicans in the negotiations, was in intense conversation with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and Sen. Patty Murray (Washington), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, on the Senate floor afterward.
It’s unclear whether the deal under discussion would include any of Democrats’ demands, which include tighter rules governing the use of warrants and barring agents from wearing masks. Schumer has made clear to Republicans that removing funding for ICE’s deportation efforts without including any of the restrictions that Democrats are demanding would not be enough to secure Democrats’ support, according to Alex Nguyen, a Schumer spokesman.
Thune has balked at the idea of including any of the restrictions that Democrats have demanded in any agreement as long as Democrats do not agree to fund ICE.
“If you’re not going to have funding, I don’t know how — all of a sudden how you can demand reforms,” Thune told reporters Tuesday.
The potential agreement would allow Democrats to avoid voting to fund the administration’s deportation efforts. Republicans passed legislation last year that included tens of billions of dollars in extra funding for ICE.
Republicans have discussed passing more funding for the part of ICE responsible for arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants later through the reconciliation process, which allows the Senate to pass legislation without the threat of a filibuster as long as it complies with obscure budget rules.
Thune said Republicans could also use reconciliation to try to pass the voting bill known as the Save America Act, a top Trump priority. The Senate has been debating the bill for the past week, but Democrats have vowed to block it.
The Save America Act would require voters to prove they are U.S. citizens when registering to vote and to show photo identification when voting. It’s unclear whether those provisions would survive the budget rules that govern what can be included in legislation passed via reconciliation.
DHS includes Customs and Border Protection, TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies in addition to ICE. The proposed agreement would fund CBP and Border Patrol. A Border Patrol agent and CBP officer shot Alex Pretti, the U.S. citizen whose killing in Minnesota in January triggered widespread outrage and led Democrats to demand new restrictions on agents.
The deal would fund part of ICE known as Homeland Security Investigations, which is responsible for investigating drug smuggling and other crimes.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, had raised concerns about the prospect of a deal to fund DHS that did not include funding for Homeland Security Investigations.
“That’s child trafficking, it’s drug smuggling, it’s counterfeit good,” Collins told reporters Sunday. “I don’t think we want to cut off Homeland Security Investigations.”
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