Thune says Republicans sent Dems ‘last and final’ DHS shutdown offer

The Senate once again failed to end the Homeland Security shutdown on Thursday despite signs of a possible breakthrough that would end the long-running shutdown, prompting President Donald Trump to take action.

Senate Democrats blocked funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a seventh time as the partial shutdown entered its 41st day on Thursday after Senate Republicans introduced a new proposal earlier in the day following midnight negotiations.

Trump then ordered DHS to pay airport workers and accused their “leader,” a Crying Chuck Schumer, of making it clear where Democrats stand “and that is on the side of ILLEGAL ALIENS, NOT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.”

“I will be signing an Executive Order directing Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin to immediately pay our TSA Agents to address this Emergency and quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at Airports,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social. “It’s not easy to do this, but I’ll do it!”

Still, some other components of the agency, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, still lack funding.

DEMS BLOCKS DHS FUNDS AFTER REJECTING GOP COUNTER, THUNE SAYS SCHUMER ‘GOES IN CIRCLES’

The vote remained open for several hours to allow talks between both parties to continue, but in the fifth hour, Trump pulled the trigger on funding for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

“We kept the vote open for five hours to give Democrats an opportunity to come to the table,” Senate Majority Rep. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told reporters. “They didn’t. And now time is up.”

Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader RS.D. John Thune said he believes talks between the two sides are making progress.

And despite Thune saying a day earlier that there was “no point” in sending another compromise proposal to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) and Democrats, Republicans did just that.

“The Dems have what I think is our last and last [offer]” said Thune. “So let’s hope this gets taken care of.”

Thune remained mum on the details of the offer. Asked if the White House supported it, he said: “They were involved in the back and forth that happened throughout the night and throughout the morning, we’ll see.”

DHS AGREEMENT IS IN LIBGATORY WHILE DEMOCRATS DEMAND TIGHTING THE ICE DESPITE GOP’S CONSENT

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DY, and Democrats rejected Republicans’ latest deal to reopen DHS. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Multiple Senate Democrats leaving the closed lunch meeting said they had not yet seen or been briefed on the latest proposal and that the GOP’s new proposal was not discussed during the meeting.

“Schumer needs to develop a pair of balls and make a decision,” a source familiar with the negotiations told Fox News Digital.

The rapid shift in mood in the upper house despite the latest setback comes as the prospect of a deal to end the second-longest shutdown in history looks ever more out of reach.

Republicans had offered Democrats a framework to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but it lacked the reforms Schumer and his group wanted.

“I think our caucus is united around the same idea: We are not going to fund an immigration enforcement operation that is not abiding by the law,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “And I don’t think we’ve seen a proposal from them yet that meets that very simple priority.”

Senate Republicans MOVE TO REOPEN DHS WITH NEW PLAN, EXPECTING DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Republicans have likely made their “final” offer to Democrats to reopen DHS. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Designing ICE is also a proposal Democrats have made before; a Republican had previously blocked this. Given this, many Senate Republicans are disappointed that Democrats appear to be backing away from an idea they once supported.

“They’re getting on stage, blowing their teeth, and saying we’re going to fund everything except ICE,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Fox News Digital. “We took their word for it. So, you know, they have to accept ‘yes’.”

It also forced Republicans to grapple with the idea of ​​defunding immigration enforcement, a sensitive issue throughout the week.

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Still, they are pursuing budget reconciliation (the same party-line tactic used to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” last year) to fund immigration operations and several other priorities.

Sen., R-Mo. Eric Schmitt told Fox News Digital: “I’m not going to support legislation that doesn’t pay ICE agents. But there’s a mechanism through reconciliation where we can front-load a few years of that.” “The Democrats, I think, have given us more certainty going forward.”