US government shuts down partially over homeland security funding | US politics
Many US government departments ran out of funding on Saturday, the result of a disagreement in Congress over new restrictions on federal agents involved in Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign following the killing of two US citizens in Minneapolis.
The partial government shutdown is a result of Democratic senators refusing to vote on a bill that would allow continued Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending after federal agents killed Alex Pretti in Minnesota’s largest city last week and Renee Good in early January. The minority party’s blockade has blocked a Republican push to approve a larger package of legislation that must pass the Senate before the government’s spending authority expires on Friday.
Democrats are demanding that the DHS funding bill be rewritten to include new restrictions on federal agents, following the killings of Good and Pretti during Trump’s surge of immigration agents into Minnesota’s largest city.
The Senate on Friday passed a package of five measures to fund government departments through September, as well as a bill to maintain DHS operations for two weeks. However, the law must be approved by the House of Representatives, which is expected to meet on Monday.
The impact of the closure remains uncertain and is unlikely to be felt until at least Monday, the first business day it takes effect. Congress had not yet fully passed appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the departments of defense, education, labor, health and human services, transportation, and housing and urban development. Trump stated that he would sign the spending package, which has been blessed by the White House, when it reaches his desk.
One memory In an article published Friday, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Russell Vought directed affected agencies, including the departments of defense, homeland security, labor, health and human services, education, transportation, housing and urban development, homeland security and state, to “implement plans for an orderly shutdown.”
“The Administration will continue to work with Congress to address recently expressed concerns regarding the completion of appropriations for Fiscal Year 2026,” Vought wrote. “We hope this break will be short,” he said.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic minority leader, said the party wants to ban officers from wearing masks and require them to wear body cameras and follow codes of conduct. He also wants independent investigations into the provisions of alleged abuses and a ban on “roving patrols” in which agents target people they believe are in the country illegally.
“These are not radical demands, but basic standards that the American people already expect from law enforcement,” Schumer said Friday.
Negotiations on these changes are expected to take place within the next two weeks.
The future of the broader funding package remains uncertain in the Republican-controlled House. Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged Thursday that “we may inevitably be in a short-term shutdown” before the legislature meets Monday. “But the Parliament will do its part. Like the President, we want to ensure the financing of the government,” he said.
But Republicans control the chamber by just a one-seat margin, with 218 seats to Democrats’ 213. Right-wing lawmakers recently demanded that the appropriations bill be used in conjunction with the Savings Act, which would impose an ID requirement for voting that critics say would disenfranchise large swathes of Americans. Their insistence could make it more difficult to pass the measures in the lower house.
The funding cut is unlikely to stop ICE’s deportation operations. The agency received $75 billion to use from the Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year, and the Trump administration may also require its employees to continue working during the shutdown.
The partial government shutdown follows a record 43 days of funding cuts that began in October after Democrats insisted that any government funding measures be paired with an extension of tax credits that reduce premiums for Affordable Care Act health plans.
A group of seven moderate Democratic senators eventually joined the GOP to reopen the government in exchange for Senate majority leader John Thune’s promise to vote on a measure expanding tax credits. Republicans blocked the legislation during the vote, and the subsidies expire at the end of 2025.
