End DHS shutdown or face ‘very drastic measures’
President Donald Trump urged Congress at a cabinet meeting on Thursday to find a quick solution to the Department of Homeland Security shutdown that has caused increasing headaches for air travelers.
In his statement from the White House, Trump said, “They need to end the shutdown immediately, or we will have to take very drastic measures.”
He did not announce what actions he would take or detail his role in negotiations to restart DHS funding.
The DHS closure lasted more than a month and disrupted air travel. Transportation Security Administration officials are going without pay and many people are losing their jobs, causing long lines at airports and increasing pressure on lawmakers to find a deal even as they appear to be at an impasse.
Senate Majority Leader John ThuneR.S.D. told reporters on Thursday that Democrats had received the “last and final offer” from Republicans, according to MS NOW. Thune declined to provide details of the latest offer but said the White House was “involved in a series of back-and-forth events that occurred overnight.”
A group of Senate Republicans met with Trump at the White House on Monday and laid out what they heralded as a compromise offer: 94% funding of DHS, excluding the enforcement and enforcement arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But shortly after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens during a crackdown on immigrants in Minneapolis, Democrats, who have withheld funding for the agency since February, rejected the proposal because it did not include the ICE operational changes they had long sought. These changes include requiring immigration agents to obtain judicial permission before entering private property and banning the use of masks.
Republicans on Wednesday flatly rejected a counteroffer from Senate Democrats that included some of those proposals.
The lull in negotiations raises the possibility that, in addition to extending the shutdown, the planned two-week holiday, which is expected to start at the end of this week, may also be shortened. Thune he told reporters It said Wednesday it was “an open question” whether MPs would be able to leave the city as planned.
The White House signaled behind the scenes earlier this week that it agreed with the GOP’s plan to reopen DHS, but Trump has so far not thrown his weight behind the proposal.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration sent ICE agents to airports to assist the TSA. Trump suggested Wednesday that he might also send members of the National Guard to airports for additional assistance.
— Emily Wilkins contributed to this story.
