The country is on the cusp of a partial government shutdown, less than three months since the last funding lapse ended. Democrats are demanding additional guardrails on immigration enforcement after border patrol officers fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti last weekend in Minneapolis. On Wednesday, both parties huddled to discuss the path forward after their return to Capitol Hill was delayed by a recent snowstorm. Senators emerged from those meetings with no immediate solution to prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend. With Friday’s midnight deadline fast approaching, Democrats laid out their demands in more detail. They’re vowing to hold up funding for the Department of Homeland Security if additional reforms aren’t included. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said those include prohibiting masks and requiring body cameras for ICE agents. They also want to update accountability standards, end roving patrols, and tighten the rules governing the use of warrants. “After the flagrant abuses we have seen from ICE and CBP agents, it is painfully and brutally clear that this out-of-control department must be reined in,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Senate is weighing funding bills for several federal agencies that have already passed in the House. Democrats want to carve out the DHS portion while moving forward with money for the rest of the government. Republicans want to keep the spending package intact, but left the door open for talks on Wednesday.”I think the administration is willing to sit down with them and have a discussion, perhaps a negotiation about how we move forward, but the one thing I do know is that a government shutdown is not in anybody’s interest,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters. The government won’t shut down entirely without a deal because Congress has already passed some spending bills. Unlike the last government shutdown, SNAP benefits would not be impacted by a funding lapse. Funding for the Departments of Defense, Labor, Transportation, Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development is still unfinished. Worker pay and non-essential services at those agencies could soon face disruptions.Notably, even if DHS funding expires, immigration enforcement wouldn’t stop because Congress approved a surge of cash for ICE last year in the so-called big, beautiful bill. Republicans have raised concerns about impacts to other parts of the agency, like TSA and FEMA, particularly as the response to severe winter weather continues. For more from the Washington News Bureau:
The country is on the cusp of a partial government shutdown, less than three months since the last funding lapse ended.
Democrats are demanding additional guardrails on immigration enforcement after border patrol officers fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti last weekend in Minneapolis.
On Wednesday, both parties huddled to discuss the path forward after their return to Capitol Hill was delayed by a recent snowstorm. Senators emerged from those meetings with no immediate solution to prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend.
With Friday’s midnight deadline fast approaching, Democrats laid out their demands in more detail. They’re vowing to hold up funding for the Department of Homeland Security if additional reforms aren’t included.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said those include prohibiting masks and requiring body cameras for ICE agents. They also want to update accountability standards, end roving patrols, and tighten the rules governing the use of warrants.
“After the flagrant abuses we have seen from ICE and CBP agents, it is painfully and brutally clear that this out-of-control department must be reined in,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The Senate is weighing funding bills for several federal agencies that have already passed in the House. Democrats want to carve out the DHS portion while moving forward with money for the rest of the government. Republicans want to keep the spending package intact, but left the door open for talks on Wednesday.
“I think the administration is willing to sit down with them and have a discussion, perhaps a negotiation about how we move forward, but the one thing I do know is that a government shutdown is not in anybody’s interest,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters.
The government won’t shut down entirely without a deal because Congress has already passed some spending bills. Unlike the last government shutdown, SNAP benefits would not be impacted by a funding lapse.
Funding for the Departments of Defense, Labor, Transportation, Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development is still unfinished. Worker pay and non-essential services at those agencies could soon face disruptions.
Notably, even if DHS funding expires, immigration enforcement wouldn’t stop because Congress approved a surge of cash for ICE last year in the so-called big, beautiful bill.
Republicans have raised concerns about impacts to other parts of the agency, like TSA and FEMA, particularly as the response to severe winter weather continues.
For more from the Washington News Bureau:
