US homeland security department on track for shutdown after funding bill fails in Senate | Trump administration
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is on track to officially shut down at midnight after lawmakers left Washington for a long weekend unable to resolve an impasse over the much-criticized agency’s funding.
A number of services, including domestic flights and the U.S. Coast Guard, could be vulnerable to disruptions after the Senate failed to pass the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the DHS appropriations bill on Thursday. Democrats blocked the funding in protest of the violent tactics used in the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
The Senate voted almost entirely along party lines on the legislation, 52-47; The only Democratic exception to support the bill was Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman. Democrats also blocked an attempt to temporarily extend funding for two weeks at current levels.
Prompted by the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents, Democrats demanded radical reforms to how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents operate, both of which fall under the purview of DHS.
While Republicans agreed to require agents to wear body cameras, they also resisted other proposals, including requiring agents to obtain a warrant signed by a judge before entering private property.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, accused Republicans of choosing “chaos.”
“They need to negotiate in good faith, produce legislation that will actually rein in ICE and stop the violence,” he said Thursday.
Before Thursday’s vote, U.S. border czar Tom Homan announced that the administration was ending “Operation Metro Surge” and that the number of ICE agents in Minnesota would return to normal levels. Homan recently took over leadership of the operation from Greg Bovino, the senior border patrol official in charge when federal agents killed Good and Pretti.
Although senators were reportedly on standby to vote if a deal was reached, a decision appeared unlikely over the weekend as some members left the US to attend the Munich security conference in Germany.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives — which passed the appropriations bill on Jan. 22 and another short-term continuing resolution on Feb. 3 to fund DHS and prevent a partial shutdown — will recess for the next 10 days, coinciding with Presidents Day next Monday, opening up the possibility of a prolonged shutdown.
It is unlikely to impact vital ICE and CBP operations, which already have ample funding thanks to the “big, beautiful bill” passed by Donald Trump last summer.
Instead, services like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Secret Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) are likely to be disrupted.
TSA workers, who include airport security personnel and baggage handlers, are expected to continue working without pay through the weekend to minimize travel disruption that marked last year’s 43-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. Many Fema employees are expected to be furloughed, limiting the ability to work with local and state partners. Officials warned that the funding cut could hamper the agency’s ability to respond to natural disasters.
The shutdown will be the second partial government shutdown this month. In late January, Congress failed to pass a package of five appropriations bills, triggering a four-day shutdown that ended when lawmakers agreed to fund all agencies through the end of the fiscal year except DHS, which they extended by two weeks.
Sara Braun contributed reporting
