Senators vented frustration Wednesday over a lack of progress in funding the Department of Homeland Security, saying the dispute is resulting in more Americans enduring long lines at airports nationwide. The standoff began Feb. 14 and was entering its fourth week, according to lawmakers speaking on the Senate floor.
Democrats said they were willing to fund some of DHS, but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, unless there were changes in how those operations are carried out. Republicans said some of the Democratic demands were a non-starter, leaving the parties unable to reach a temporary agreement during hourslong debate.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said lawmakers were still negotiating but not close to a deal. “We are in a negotiation. However, we are not close,” Schatz said. “You may think this is some issue that we think we’re going to turn to our political advantage, but I promise you, when we saw Renee Good and Alex Pretti killed, this became an issue that was beyond politics.” Schatz also said, “And there are a lot of us who are not going to provide resources to this agency that is acting in such a ways that makes citizens of the United States so unsafe.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., argued against steps that would limit ICE enforcement. “Let me be clear, we are going to do nothing — nothing — that kneecaps ICE’s ability to enforce our immigrations laws,” Schmitt said.
The standoff is tied to Congress’s appropriations work. After last year’s longest federal shutdown, Congress completed work on 11 of this year’s 12 appropriations bills, leaving only the Homeland Security bill unfinished. Democrats, lawmakers said, are seeking multiple changes at DHS, including prohibiting ICE enforcement operations at sensitive locations such as schools and churches, permitting independent investigations into alleged wrongdoing, and requiring warrants signed by judges before agents can forcibly enter private homes or other nonpublic spaces without consent. Democrats also are seeking requirements that agents wear identification and remove their masks.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the administration had made an offer and that Democrats had not responded. Thune said his side had made repeated overtures on a Homeland Security funding bill, and that the last offer came from the White House nearly two weeks earlier with “no response from the Democrats.” Thune said: “Usually, around here, in order to get a deal, there has to be a negotiation where the two sides sit down together.” He added that his understanding was that “has been completely rebuffed by the senator from Washington.”
Thune was referring to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Murray said she continued to talk with Republican colleagues but that “those aren’t ‘real negotiations,’” adding that the White House needed to be at the table. Murray said she needed assurance that Stephen Miller would not upend any agreements reached. “I am willing to talk to people, but I’m not willing to sit in a room, have coffee, give away a few things and have Stephen Miller override whatever we all agree to,” Murray said. “ … We need to know the White House is serious.”
DHS has been central to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement changes, and the AP reported that under Trump the number of people ICE arrests and detains each month has climbed dramatically. Democrats said ICE tactics have generated alarm, and some Republicans have called for a more “strategic” approach. Earlier this year, appropriators agreed to a DHS funding bill that included more resources for de-escalation training and $20 million to outfit immigration enforcement agents with body-worn cameras, but the deal unraveled after the Pretti shooting in Minneapolis. Murray said, “My side was not going to stand down and say, ‘oh well, nothing happened,’”
For the second time in two weeks, Murray offered a proposal to fund all of DHS except for ICE and Customs and Border Protection, but Republicans objected. Separately, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., offered a plan to fund all of DHS for two weeks so federal workers could get paid and government operations could continue while lawmakers negotiated immigration enforcement differences; Democrats objected to that proposal. The standoff continued, but lawmakers said there was at least some sign of progress in that they were talking to each other.
The shutdown strains air travel, AP reported. A large majority of the more than 260,000 employees at DHS are continuing to work but going unpaid, the outlet said. The most visible sign has been a shortage of TSA screeners at airports, AP reported. Houston’s secondary airport had the worst problems, with lines consistently lasting over three hours for much of Sunday and Monday, and passengers also waited more than an hour at several other airports including New Orleans and Atlanta.
In a social media post Wednesday, DHS blamed Democrats for the delay, writing that the shutdown “has led to HOURS long security lines at airports across the country, leading Americans to miss their spring break flights.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also urged lawmakers to act, calling on Congress to quickly approve a funding bill and end the department’s shutdown. Neil Bradley, the business group’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, said, “Blocking operational funding and paychecks for those who help us travel safely is wrong and strains the air travel system.”