Democrats reject Trump shutdown offer as DHS funding deadline nears

The top two Democrats in Congress have rejected for now an offer from President Donald Trump and Republicans to avert the shutdown as the deadline quickly approaches.

For several hours Monday night, both Republicans and Democrats remained almost radio silent on the nature of the counteroffer from the White House. That’s partly because some lawmakers had no idea what was inside.

But the silence appeared to represent another positive step toward preventing a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown. That is, until Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DY) trashed the proposal Monday night.

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“Republicans shared a draft counterproposal that contained neither the details nor the text of the bill,” the two said in a joint statement. he said.

“The GOP’s initial response is both incomplete and insufficient to address Americans’ concerns on this issue. [Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s] unlawful conduct,” they continued. “Democrats are awaiting additional details and text.”

While it’s not the death knell for negotiations to fund DHS or reach an agreement on a short-term funding extension, it is slowing some of the optimistic momentum that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S.D., said was building over the weekend.

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President Donald Trump made the announcement in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington. D.C.Thursday, February 5, 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Democrats’ primary goal is to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good. They finally pitched legislative proposals to Republicans on Saturday to rein in DHS and ICE.

Their proposal included provisions that were a bridge too far for Republicans, including requiring ICE agents to obtain judicial clearance, unmask and have identification readily available — some in the GOP warned that doing so would lead to more agents having their personal information deleted if a person’s private information, such as their address, were made public.

The White House counteroffer came in response to Democrats’ list of demands and was kept under tight lock and key.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) is crafting a short-term funding extension for DHS and hopes Senate Democrats will support it. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Before Schumer and Jeffries’ rebellion, Republicans were considering pursuing another short-term funding extension for DHS, known as continuing resolution (CR). That’s because lawmakers had just eight days to figure out how to fund the most formidable of all federal agencies after the House passed the Trump-Schumer funding deal last week.

Now Friday’s deadline is fast approaching Congress, and lawmakers are preparing to leave Washington, D.C., for a week-long recess on Thursday. Many will travel to Germany for the Munich Security Conference.

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Thune said he would likely draft another CR on Tuesday, and was optimistic at the time that negotiations were moving in a direction that could lead some Democrats to support the move.

“If additional time is needed, of course we will have to vote on something and hopefully Democrats will be willing to do another extension,” Thune said.