Lawmakers resign themselves to lengthy DHS shutdown
Lawmakers left Washington for a week-long recess Thursday, showing no urgency to avert a shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security that will take effect Saturday morning.
The overwhelming sense of resignation reflected the reality that neither Republicans nor Democrats saw an obvious path forward to resolving their differences over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and whether to rein it in as part of legislation to fund DHS.
Though negotiations between the White House and Senate Democrats continue, the trajectory of talks suggest DHS funding will be lapsed for at least 10 days — meaning the soonest any resolution would be reached is in the political hothouse around Trump’s State of the Union address on Feb. 24. The lack of progress has even raised the prospect that Trump’s speech to Congress might be postponed, and some Democrats are mulling a boycott.
“This ‘nyah nyah’ is going to go on for a while,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Thursday.
Even if a deal were struck, Kennedy added, “I’m not entirely convinced that anybody would vote for it. I can’t see the Dems voting for anything because they’re not going to get pounded for funding ICE. And the Republicans on my side are not going to get pounded for hurting ICE.”
Negotiations between Democrats and White House officials were ongoing as of Thursday evening. Democrats, who have floated a series of guardrails on immigration enforcement agencies in exchange for funding DHS, were expected to formally respond to the latest White House offer over the weekend after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries bashed it Thursday without disclosing specifics on what was contained within.
The absence of leaked bill text in the exchanges between Democrats and the White House was one subtle sign of encouragement for those watching the negotiations that both sides were taking the talks seriously.
As they prepared to leave Washington, Republicans continued to knock key demands from Democrats, including a proposal that immigration enforcement agents seek judicial warrants before entering private property.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that Republicans and Democrats were “not close.” A senior White House official granted anonymity during a call with reporters warned that the administration wouldn’t “accept concessions that meaningfully affect its ability to carry out its immigration enforcement agenda.”
Even if a compromise emerges, some Democrats worry that Republicans will insist on so many qualifications that any of their proposed guardrails would be rendered toothless.
“We can't pass reform that has exceptions and caveats — ‘you can't wear masks, except for seven different situations where you can. You can't bust into people's homes, except 20 different situations where you can,’” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the subcommittee overseeing DHS appropriations. “The offers we've gotten are just not serious.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said it was paramount that both sides “sit down with each other face to face and talk about what you’re doing.” But there were no plans for an in-person meeting.
It will likely take weeks for the public to start feeling pain from a lapse in DHS funding, meaning each side will feel limited political pressure to give in right away. TSA screeners are not set to miss paychecks until March, and FEMA coffers are likely full enough to respond to natural disasters for the near future.
After the Senate failed to pass DHS funding legislation Thursday, lawmakers in both chambers left Washington with guidance to be ready to come back in a matter of days if Democrats and the White House were able to strike a deal – something that members didn’t see as a realistic possibility before the end of next week.
“Both sides could dig in and just let this thing drag on,” Thune said. “I don’t think that’s in anybody’s best interest.”
Jennifer Scholtes, Mia McCarthy, Myah Ward contributed to this report.