With less than 72 hours until most of the federal government runs out of funding, a partial shutdown now appears likely. The more pressing question is how much of the government will close — and for how long.
Senate Democrats told MS NOW that their support for a Department of Homeland Security funding bill hinges on new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies.
Republicans, who are also facing political pressure after officers killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota, say they’re open to hearing the Democratic proposals. But time is short, and any agreement would need to clear both chambers of Congress — with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signaling no plans to bring the House back from recess.
Instead, Johnson and other GOP leaders are urging Senate Democrats to join Republicans in passing the remaining six of the 12 annual appropriations bills without changes, even though Democrats are adamant they won’t do that.
As Friday night’s deadline looms, lawmakers need to move quickly to avert a funding lapse that could affect roughly four-fifths of federal agency budgets.
But there’s a massive barrier in the way. Republicans want a handshake agreement with Trump on changes at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, rather than codifying restrictions in the Homeland Security funding bill itself. Democrats say they don’t trust the administration to follow through.
“Can’t trust anything, any promises this administration makes,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Tuesday. “It’s got to be in legislation so there’s no way around that.”
Murphy, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that funds the Department of Homeland Security, told MS NOW late Tuesday that he expects his caucus to propose a number of changes to the DHS funding bill. In the meantime, Democrats are pushing to strip DHS funding out of the broader six-bill package in order to keep other agencies operating past the deadline.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., opposes that approach. While he said he’d listen to Democratic proposals, he wants the six-bill funding package to stay intact.
“If there are things the Democrats want in the Homeland bill that are addressed in the context of this situation, then they ought to make those clear and known, and see to what degree the administration may be able to address that,” Thune told reporters Tuesday. “So I would prefer that there be a way that we keep the package together.”
Any changes to the six-bill, $1.3 trillion funding package would force House lawmakers to return from recess to approve the revised measure. Otherwise, all agencies covered by the package will shut down after midnight on Friday night.
That would affect the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury and Homeland Security. House leaders have not offered to recall members to vote.
Aside from their proposed policy changes, Senate Democrats are pushing to split the Homeland Security bill off from the other five measures — suggesting they would pass the other five spending bills and continue negotiating on DHS.
“There have to be changes, so split the five bills away from DHS and the Dems will provide the votes to get the five bills passed,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Tuesday. “But if the Republicans won’t do that, it’s because they want to shield DHS from accountability.”
Still, even a successful Senate vote on the five bills, without Homeland Security, would require another vote in the House to send the five-bill package to Trump’s desk. Otherwise, all the agencies under the six bills will face a shutdown on Saturday.
If those agencies do shutter, DHS ironically would be protected from many of the effects of the funding lapse. That’s because of a roughly $178 billion pot of money enacted in the GOP’s reconciliation bill last summer.
Those funds, which are separate from the normal, annual funding process, included $75 billion for ICE. The Defense Department also got a $156 billion stash of money in the tax-and-spending law that it could tap during a shutdown.
But other departments funded by the six-bill package would feel the full effect of a shutdown.
“It’d be a genuine shame for us to lose all of these positive steps we managed to get through a full appropriations process that rejects all the Republican poison pills and that projects a wide range of most pernicious budget cuts,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a senior appropriator, told MS NOW.
Thune has pointed to that dynamic, urging Democrats to separate the negotiations from funding bills — a set of negotiations that gives Democrats leverage but also risks a shutdown.
“Not only is it complicated, I think it could be risky,” Thune said of seeking changes to the House-passed funding package.
Democratic lawmakers have plenty of proposals for changes at ICE. But they haven’t formed them into a cohesive offer yet.
They want independent investigations of the recent shootings, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., told MS NOW. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told MS NOW he wants “a ban on arrests in sensitive locations like churches and hospitals.” And Democrats don’t want federal immigration enforcement in cities and states that don’t consent to those actions, Kaine said.
Senators have also already discussed changes like barring immigration officers from wearing masks, requiring them to have warrants for arrests and sending Border Patrol agents back to the border.
Democrats have also discussed restrictions on the ability of officials to use the massive pot of money enacted last summer, separate from the current, annual funding talks, Kaine said.
The killing of 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti — following the death of 37-year-old Renee Good — prompted criticism from some Republican lawmakers, who say they’re open to restrictions.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he could agree to several ideas Democrats have floated, including requirements for agents to wear body cameras and have warrants, and for investigations after shootings.
“If they’re talking about reforms where if you have an officer-involved shooting that you have to have an indie review, count me in,” Tillis told reporters Tuesday.
Tillis also called for Trump to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, saying she’s squandered the public’s faith in the president’s immigration agenda. But he stopped short of calling for the changes to be written into the bill to fund DHS.
Tillis said lawmakers could try to pass a short-term stopgap funding measure for DHS and pass the other five bills, though he acknowledged there could be a short “technical shutdown” if the House doesn’t return in time to pass the altered package before Friday.
But Pretti’s death has also made it harder for Democrats to vote for a bill that includes funds for ICE, even if lawmakers agree to a compromise on policy changes.
For example, Murphy stopped short of saying he would support a Homeland Security funding bill if it includes a compromise set of policy changes.
“Let’s just see what the list is first,” Murphy said. “We’re still trying to run to ground the list of things that we want.”
Kevin Frey and Mychael Schnell contributed reporting.
Jack Fitzpatrick covers Congress for MS NOW. He previously reported for Bloomberg Government, Morning Consult and National Journal. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from Arizona State University.