Schumer: Democrats will block funding package if it includes homeland security money | US politics
Following the fatal shooting of a US citizen by a federal officer in Minnesota, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday evening that his party would block a funding package next week if it included money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The announcement, which significantly raises the possibility of another government shutdown, comes as anger at DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), intensified within the party after a group of federal agents violently restrained and then fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday morning.
New York senator Schumer said in a statement: “What is happening in Minnesota is appalling and unacceptable in any American city.” “Democrats sought common-sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but with Republicans refusing to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in ICE abuses. I will vote no.”
“Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to move forward with the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included,” he added.
The House passed the bill this week even though Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries previously said most Democrats would not support funding ICE. But seven Democrats pushed the issue over the line.
Now the funding package, which calls for $64.4 billion for DHS, including $10 billion for ICE, needs 60 votes to avoid the filibuster and pass the Senate. Republicans currently control 53 seats and need Democratic support to pass the bipartisan package.
The package also includes funding for other government agencies, including the ministries of defense, state, education, labor and transportation.
Following Pretti’s shooting, a handful of Senate Democrats who had previously appeared to support the funding package began expressing their opposition.
“The Trump administration and Kristi Noem are sending undertrained, belligerent federal agents to the streets with no accountability,” Nevada senator Catherine Cortez Masto said in a statement. “They are oppressing Americans and having conflicts with local law enforcement. This is clearly not about keeping Americans safe. They are brutalizing U.S. citizens and law-abiding immigrants.”
Nevada’s other senator, Jacky Rosen, wrote of
And Virginia’s Democratic senator, Mark Warner, wrote: “I cannot and will not vote to fund DHS while this administration continues the violent fed takeover of our cities.”
