The Senate is barreling toward Friday’s funding deadline for the Department of Homeland Security, but the two sides remain far apart on reforms to ICE.
Congress may leave town at the end of this week with DHS shut down and no clear plan to reopen the massive department, according to senators and aides on both sides of the aisle. Negotiations between Democrats and the White House are ongoing, but right now, a deal on a stopgap funding measure seems unlikely.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune took the first procedural step on Tuesday evening to tee up a vote. Thune teed up a bill that Republicans would use as a shell for either a continuing resolution or a DHS funding deal. At this point, Thune would almost certainly need a CR to buy more time.
Either way, Senate GOP leaders will need unanimous consent to speed up votes if they’re going to pass something before the Friday deadline.
“We’re kind of in a consent posture,” Thune said. “Doing anything with the amount of time that we have between now and when the funding deadline gets hit would take consent, and I don’t know whether [Democrats] will give us that or not.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that Democrats need to see more from Republicans during negotiations over how ICE conducts President Donald Trump’s harsh immigration crackdown. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries released a 10-point plan last week demanding significant changes to federal immigration enforcement. Republicans quickly dismissed many of the ideas but Democrats and the White House have traded proposals since then.
Dems’ opposition. Meanwhile, rank-and-file Democrats sound increasingly skeptical of any short-term DHS funding bill. This makes a DHS shutdown far more likely, especially since the latest complaints are coming from moderate Democrats who dislike shutdowns.
Key centrists, including Sens. Angus King (I-Maine) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) are ruling out a CR entirely, saying the GOP isn’t serious enough about implementing ICE reforms.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told us she’d need to see Republicans show “real willingness to negotiate, to discuss differences and to recognize that the excesses that ICE has engaged in are putting Americans at risk.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Republicans have mostly taken Democratic proposals off the table, including measures to require independent investigations, use of force guidelines and judicial warrants.
“There is a consensus, I think, that Republicans are just not serious,” Van Hollen said. “The White House is not serious.”
Thune has argued there’s been forward progress in the negotiations, pointing to Democrats’ initial offer and the White House’s counter-proposal.
Day ahead. While the effort to strike a DHS deal goes on, Senate Republicans will spend much of today in a private policy retreat. The crisis over DHS funding, as well as the “talking filibuster” and the SAVE America Act will be major topics of discussion.
That means there won’t be Senate votes until in the afternoon at the earliest. Thune said the half-day event will include presentations from Cabinet officials and sessions on messaging.
