Lawmakers on Wednesday criticized the stalled effort to fund the Department of Homeland Security, arguing that the breakdown is increasingly affecting air travel as the standoff enters its fourth week. Republican and Democratic senators said airport wait times are worsening as the dispute prevents resolution of the agency’s Homeland Security funding bill.
In remarks during hourslong debate on the Senate floor, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii said senators were still negotiating but not close. “We are in a negotiation. However, we are not close,” Schatz said, adding that the fight had become “beyond politics” after what he described as the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Schatz and other Democrats said they were prepared to fund some components of DHS but resisted funding without changes that they say are necessary to address how Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection operate. Democrats’ proposals include limits on ICE enforcement at sensitive locations such as schools and churches, a requirement for independent investigations into alleged wrongdoing, and additional conditions they say would require warrants signed by judges before federal agents can forcibly enter private homes or other nonpublic spaces without consent, along with requirements that agents wear identification and remove masks.
Republicans said those demands are not acceptable. Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said Republicans were not willing to accept changes he said would weaken enforcement. “Let me be clear, we are going to do nothing — nothing — that kneecaps ICE’s ability to enforce our immigrations laws,” Schmitt said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said his side has made repeated overtures to Democrats on a DHS funding bill, including what he described as the most recent offer made by the White House. Thune said, “Usually, around here, in order to get a deal, there has to be a negotiation where the two sides sit down together,” adding that his understanding was that such talks had been “completely rebuffed” by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Murray said she continued speaking with Republican colleagues but argued that those conversations did not amount to “real negotiations” because the White House was not at the table. She also said senators needed assurance that Stephen Miller would not override any agreement they 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, adding that “We need to know the White House is serious.”
The impasse builds on a broader funding pattern in the current Congress. Following last year’s record federal shutdown, lawmakers completed work on 11 of the 12 appropriations bills for this year. Only the Homeland Security bill remained outstanding, with lawmakers saying the stalled negotiations have continued despite earlier bipartisan efforts earlier in the year.
Democrats and Republicans also described how prior bargaining shifted after events involving immigration enforcement. Murray said her side would not accept a stand-down approach after the shooting of Pretti in Minneapolis. She later offered, for the second time in two weeks, a proposal to fund all of DHS except ICE and Customs and Border Protection, but Republicans objected. A separate short-term proposal by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, would have funded all of DHS for two weeks to allow federal workers to be paid while negotiations continued, but Democrats opposed it.
The shutdown strains DHS operations and air travel, with the TSA being one of the most visible impacts, senators said. The AP reported that the large majority of the more than 260,000 employees at DHS continued to work but were going unpaid, marking a second instance in recent months when employees have worked without pay after a 43-day shutdown last fall.
The AP also said that Houston’s secondary airport had the most severe and consistent problems, with lines lasting over three hours for much of Sunday and Monday, and that passengers at other airports including New Orleans and Atlanta waited more than an hour to get through security. DHS attributed the problem to Democrats in a Wednesday social media post, saying the shutdown had led to “HOURS long security lines at airports across the country,” which it linked to missed spring break travel.
Trade groups pressed Congress to resolve the funding impasse as the delays ripple into the broader economy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called for lawmakers to approve a funding bill and end the shutdown. Neil Bradley, the Chamber’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.”