Democratic senators are vowing to oppose a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security following the shooting death of a 37-year-old Minnesota man, a stand that increases the prospect of a partial government shutdown by the end of the week.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, in a social media post Saturday night, hours after the shooting, said that what is happening in Minnesota is “appalling” and that Democrats “will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”
Six of the 12 annual spending bills for the current budget year have been signed into law by President Donald Trump. Six more are awaiting action in the Senate. If senators fail to act by midnight Friday, funding for agencies covered under those six bills will lapse.
Republicans will need some Democratic support to pass the remaining spending bills in time to avoid a partial shutdown. That support was already in question after Renee Good, a mother of three, was fatally shot and killed earlier this month by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. But the fatal shooting Saturday of Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, quickly prompted Democrats to take a more forceful stand.
“Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE,” said Schumer, D-N.Y. “I will vote no.”
A deal begins to unravel
Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and key negotiator on the funding package, had been pushing her colleagues to vote for the homeland security bill, arguing that Democrats had successfully fought off major increases to the ICE budget.
But in the wake of the shooting, Murray said Sunday on X that “I will NOT support the DHS bill as it stands.”
“Federal agents cannot murder people in broad daylight and face zero consequences,” Murray wrote.
Federal officials have defended the actions of the agents involved in the Good and Pretti shootings as justified. Democrats said video released of both shootings showed otherwise, and some Republicans are calling for thorough investigations.
“The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., posted on X. “The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., wants a “thorough and impartial investigation” into the shooting and said “any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins are doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President Trump’s legacy.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said Democrats should reconsider their threat to not support DHS funding and work with him to “end the mess created by sanctuary city policies.”
“Now is not the time to defund one of our major national security priorities: border protection,” Graham said on X.
Funding puzzle will be hard to solve
The growing backlash from Democrats puts Republican leaders in the Senate in a difficult position.
Much of the government, including the Department of Defense, continues to operate on a short-term bill that provides funding only through Friday.
Republican leaders had hoped to avoid another shutdown after last fall’s 43-day closure that revolved around Democrats’ insistence on extending federal subsidies that make health coverage more affordable for those enrolled in the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Before Pretti’s death, many Democrats felt the same way about a potential shutdown, lending support in the House to most of the remaining appropriations bills, with DHS the exception.
The House sent the six funding bills to the Senate as a package, and that makes it exceedingly difficult to strip out the homeland security portion which Democrats are demanding.
Despite the procedural hurdles, Schumer said Sunday that Republicans should work with Democrats to advance the other five bills and rewrite the DHS bill. “This is the best course of action, and the American people are on our side,” Schumer said.
The path ahead is uncertain. The Senate is not scheduled to return to session until Tuesday, due to the snowstorm. The House plans to be out of session this week and would have to pass the funding package again if it is changed.
Democrats are pushing for policy changes to be added to the homeland security spending bill that would force ICE agents to use warrants for immigration arrests, mandate strengthened training, require agents to identify themselves and have Border Patrol agents stay on the border rather than assisting ICE with immigration raids in the interior of the country.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees homeland security funding, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that Congress cannot fund a department “that is murdering American citizens, that is traumatizing little boys and girls across the country in violation of the law.”
One by one, Democrats stake out opposition
Democratic senators were scheduled to participate in conference call Sunday evening to discuss the next steps. House Democrats held their own caucus call in the morning with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the state’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, both former congressmen.
Several other Democratic senators announced they would vote “no” on homeland security money, including some who had helped Republicans end the record shutdown last year.
“The abuses of power we are seeing from ICE in Minneapolis and across the country are un-American and cannot be normalized,” Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said in a post on X. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., also said she opposes that portion of the package.
Minnesota’s Democratic senators also indicated they will oppose the DHS funding bill.
“For those asking where we go from here: Not voting to fund ICE is a great place for us to start,” Sen. Tina Smith wrote on X.
“We oppose the ICE funding bill. We call for a full and transparent investigation with state officials,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said. ”And we call on our Republican colleagues to stand up. They know this is wrong.”
Why the entire government wouldn’t shut down
The progress that Congress has made so far on spending bills means that much of the federal government’s work would continue even if lawmakers are unable to complete the job.
A bill that Trump signed Friday funds the departments of Justice, Commerce and the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through the end of the budget year in September.
The Department of Agriculture was funded from a previous measure, which means a shutdown shouldn’t stop food assistance this time.
But other critical operations of the government would be disrupted.
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Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
