Senate Republicans made progress on a possible deal to end the monthlong partial government shutdown directly affecting the Department of Homeland Security when they met with the president at the White House on Monday evening.
No resolution to the funding lapse has been announced yet, but Republicans are considering funding all DHS operations except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Democrats remain obstinate in funding the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. The shutdown started on Feb. 14 for that very reason.
Unpaid Transportation Security Administration officers are bearing the brunt of the shutdown, causing long wait lines at airport security checkpoints across the nation. The Trump administration helped alleviate the TSA by dispatching ICE officers to the airports most affected by TSA call-outs on Monday, but a more lasting solution is still needed.
OVER 400 TSA OFFICERS HAVE QUIT SINCE BEGINNING OF SHUTDOWN, DHS SAYS
Republican senators pitched President Donald Trump on a new party-line reconciliation bill that opens the door to funding ICE if they can get enough votes. The measure would be separate from the appropriations bill that would fund the rest of DHS.
Trump was previously opposed to a reconciliation bill to pass more ICE funding, but according to Politico, he seems to be coming around to the idea after conversing with Senate Republicans.
After the White House meeting, Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) appeared hopeful that a solution is forthcoming.
“I’m going to be working through the night, so hopefully we can land this plane,” she told reporters.
Britt was present at the meeting with Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Steve Daines (R-MT). Notably, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was absent.
When asked if they have a solution hammered out, Thune replied, “I hope so.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she was “more optimistic” that a DHS funding deal will be made by the end of the week.
Trump threw a wrench into the negotiations over the weekend when he tied the DHS funding deal to the SAVE America Act, making the case for why the voter-identification legislation should be included in the deal.
He initially proposed the idea on Truth Social and later reiterated his call.
“Don’t make any deal on anything unless you include voter ID,” Trump said, urging lawmakers to stay in Washington, D.C., through Easter if necessary until a deal is made.
Senate Democrats have remained firm in their objections to ICE funding, after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by immigration officers in Minneapolis earlier this year. Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) summed up the party’s stance on the matter while speaking with reporters.
“The real issue here is the ICE and the ICE practices, you know, they were lawless, and what happened in Minneapolis is shocking. It can never happen again,” Welch said, per Roll Call. “Let’s debate that, but let’s pay TSA. Let’s get relief funds out for FEMA folks. Let’s pay the Coast Guard.”
Democrats have repeatedly pressed Republicans to vote on their bills to fund TSA and the rest of DHS, except ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and the homeland security secretary’s office. Republicans have blocked the measures each time.
TRUMP REJECTS SENATE GOP PROPOSAL TO PUNT ICE FUNDING
The signs of momentum following the White House meeting came around the same time the Senate confirmed Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to become the next DHS chief after Kristi Noem, who was fired from the role after her performance at two congressional oversight hearings this month.
Mullin will be sworn in as homeland security secretary on Tuesday afternoon. Noem will then start to transition to her new post as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a new initiative launched by Trump to combat narco-terrorism and other shared threats to the Western Hemisphere.
