Congressional leaders and the White House are discussing a plan to avoid a second prolonged government shutdown by passing a short-term stopgap spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security.
Democrats have said they would not pass a full-year funding bill for DHS without guardrails to rein in ICE and other federal agents tasked with carrying out President Trump’s deportation agenda.
Republicans did not want to remove the DHS bill from a broader package of spending bills that also includes funding for the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said he is “hopeful” that a compromise can be reached to pass the other five full-year spending bills and a stopgap for DHS.
President Trump said they were “getting close” to a deal with the Democrats.
“We’ll work in a very bipartisan way, I believe, not to have a shutdown,” he said. “We don’t want to shut down.”
SEE ALSO: Schumer lays out Senate Democrats’ plan on reining in ICE through DHS funding bill
The plan, which is not finalized, would not totally avert a partial government shutdown set to hit at midnight Friday because the House, which is on recess this week, would need to come back to Washington to pass the updated package.
But if the House can pass it this weekend or early next week, the impacts of a brief funding lapse would be minimal.
“There have been very constructive discussions and conversations,” Mr. Thune told reporters. “But I don’t want to get the cart before the horse.”
He said it is up to Senate Democratic leaders and the White House to figure out how long a short-term DHS stopgap would last and what the next step for negotiations on changes to ICE operations would be.
The latter would be key to avoiding a DHS shutdown whenever the stopgap ends.
Democrats and a handful of Republicans blocked a procedural vote on Thursday needed to begin debate on the spending package.
“While I am very glad to see that the White House and Republicans are now talking with Democrats to finalize a plan to pass the five bills and split off DHS, until that deal is finalized, I will be a no,” said Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the chamber’s top Democratic appropriator.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, did not mention the potential DHS stopgap in his daily floor speech on Thursday but said Senate Democrats were prepared to pass the other five spending bills that day.
Mr. Schumer cited remarks from White House border czar Tom Homan on Thursday in which he said that people who do not like what ICE is doing would have to take up changes to the law with Congress.
“I don’t agree very much with Mr. Homan, and he’s certainly not my choice for someone to lower the temperature in Minneapolis, but he’s right saying the epicenter of change has to be Congress, not the executive branch,” Mr. Schumer said.
Democrats are demanding to renegotiate the DHS spending bill after Saturday’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
They’ve made specific demands, which include forcing ICE to end roving immigration enforcement patrols and use judicial warrants and requiring federal agents to unmask, wear body cameras and carry identification.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the Democratic appropriator in charge of negotiating the DHS bill, said he is not yet convinced that a stopgap measure is needed.
He said the White House is coming to the table because the country is turning against them.
“They know that they can’t be in a position of defending ICE for a day for a day longer, and that’s a credit to the people of Minneapolis,” he said. “They have helped turn public opinion towards a demand for reforms.”
