The House on Tuesday took a pivotal step toward passing a spending package to end the partial government shutdown and keep the Department of Homeland Security running through the end of next week while Democrats and President Trump negotiate restrictions on the administration’s immigration crackdown.
The vote was 217 to 215 to advance the measure to reopen major parts of the government whose funding lapsed on Saturday morning. The House’s final vote is expected later on Tuesday afternoon, the last step to clear the legislation for Mr. Trump’s signature.
Mr. Trump had thrown his weight behind the deal, which he negotiated with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. He met personally at the White House with conservatives who had threatened to derail its passage and sent emissaries to Capitol Hill to convince wary Republicans to back the agreement.
Still, Speaker Mike Johnson struggled until the last moment to muster the votes to bring it up on Tuesday, haggling with an animated group of conservative holdouts on the House floor for nearly an hour before he managed to cobble together a bare majority. Such messy and drawn-out scenes have become routine in the chamber, where Mr. Johnson is working with a razor-thin majority.
In addition to the stopgap measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security for 10 additional days to leave time for bipartisan talks over new immigration enforcement restrictions, the legislation also would fund major parts of the government through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. Those include the Treasury, Education, Labor and State Departments and the Pentagon.
Should it pass the House as expected on Tuesday, lawmakers would turn their focus to what promises to be a difficult negotiation to unlock longer-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Senate Democrats last week presented a set of demands that included a prohibition on federal officers wearing masks, and requiring federal agents to wear body cameras and carry identification. Their proposal would put an end to roving patrols and require warrants issued by a judge for arrests and searches.
Democrats have also demanded that federal agents be subject to the same use-of-force policies that apply to local and state law enforcement agencies, which require those involved in violent incidents to be subject to independent investigations if they are accused of wrongdoing.
Trump administration officials, eager to tamp down on at least some of the public outrage that bubbled up after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in less than a month, have already agreed to some changes. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said on Monday that all immigration officers on the ground in Minneapolis would be equipped with body cameras and the program would be expanded nationwide “as funding is available.”
But other reforms already seem more elusive. Speaker Mike Johnson at a news conference on Tuesday ruled out requiring warrants for arrests and searches, and has previously said he is opposed to mandating officers to take their masks off.
“We do have to apply the Constitution. We have to respect it, and those parameters need to be determined,” Mr. Johnson said. “But I can tell you that we are never going to go along with adding an entirely new layer of judicial warrants, because it is unimplementable. It cannot be done and it should not be done, and it’s not necessary.”
Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times.
The post House Moves Toward Passing Deal to End Partial Shutdown appeared first on New York Times.
