Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday that Democrats and Republicans are “not close” to a deal on Department of Homeland Security funding but that a “deal space is there. I think we can get it done.”
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Heather Diehl/Getty Images
The Department of Homeland Security, which houses agencies focused on immigration, disaster response and cybersecurity, is on track to shut down Saturday as lawmakers leave town without a funding agreement or a deal that Democrats hope will rein in the conduct of federal immigration officers.
After two U.S. citizens were shot dead by immigration officers in Minneapolis, Democrats laid out 10 demands to restrict agents’ aggressive tactics as a condition for funding DHS. Democrats produced proposed legislative text over the weekend, and the White House responded with a counteroffer Wednesday night, though lawmakers declined to detail its contents.
Senate Democrats blocked two Republican-backed measures Thursday to keep the department open, including a short-term funding extension for two weeks as negotiations continue.
“Today’s strong vote was a shot across the bow to Republicans,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “Democrats will not support a blank check for chaos. This vote today asked a simple question: Will you rein in ICE’s abuses, or will you vote to extend the chaos? Republicans chose chaos. And the Democrats, we refused.”
House and Senate Republican leadership declined to cancel the upcoming weeklong recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said lawmakers have been told to be ready to return if a deal is reached, though he indicated that this would be unlikely.
“I just think at the moment we’re not close,” Thune told reporters.
Democrats and Republicans have already started trading blame for the failure to avert a shutdown. Republicans say Democrats were slow to make an initial offer and then balked at anything short of their full slate of demands. Democrats accuse the White House of delivering a counterproposal that was “insufficient and incomplete.”
But leaders in both parties have still signaled they think a deal is possible.
“That deal space is there,” Thune said. “I think this can get done.”
Immigration enforcement will continue while other programs pause
The shutdown is likely to have minimal impact on pay for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and funding for their enforcement operations, since both agencies received an infusion of cash from Congress last summer. During the government shutdown last fall, officers and agents conducting arrests continued to do so and also continued to be paid.
According to DHS’ contingency plan, last updated in September, 22,862 agency workers not in ICE or CBP could be furloughed, meaning they would not work and would not be paid until the end of the shutdown. Other workers may be instructed to continue working but without pay, and there could be pauses to other programs.
The leadership of ICE, CBP and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) told lawmakers this week that the shutdown would have minimal impact on their employees. Still, some programs could be on hold.
For example, during the 43-day shutdown last fall, the Office of Detention Oversight, which investigates immigration detention conditions and deaths, was not working.
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow reminded House lawmakers that his agency is funded primarily by the fees that people pay when they submit various forms and applications, so his employees would still get paid.
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said the shutdown could affect DHS’ work on transnational crime, but he did not note any impact to immigration operations. And CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott also didn’t detail how the shutdown would affect personnel, just saying: “I agree America becomes less safe.”
Shutdown impacts will likely be limited
Republican lawmakers have warned that the shutdown could affect DHS agencies like the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“By not allowing us time to continue these conversations, real people are paying the price,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security.
But most Americans may not feel severe impacts of the partial shutdown unless it is prolonged.
FEMA has millions of dollars on hand to continue responding to emergencies during the shutdown. FEMA Associate Administrator Gregg Phillips told Congress Wednesday that the fund “has sufficient balances to continue emergency response activities for the foreseeable future.” If the shutdown lasts several weeks, paychecks in March could be paused.
During the previous shutdown, DHS tapped into funding authorized by Congress last summer to continue paying active-duty Coast Guard and Secret Service members. Those funds could be made available again to stave off shutdown effects.
TSA agents are not expected to miss a paycheck until mid-March.
“I am hopeful that these discussions will continue,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Britt’s Democratic counterpart in charge of homeland security funding. “But frankly, we had plenty of time to get a deal in the last two weeks. We want to fund the Department of Homeland Security, but only a department that is obeying the law.”
This will be the third shutdown in a matter of months. Last fall, the entire federal government shut down for a record-long 43 days as Democrats tried and ultimately failed to extend expiring health insurance subsidies.
Funding briefly lapsed for part of the government earlier this month as Democrats withheld their votes for funding DHS through September as they tried to extract policy changes after the second deadly shooting in Minneapolis.
NPR’s Rebecca Hersher contributed reporting.
