A key vote intended to head off a partial government shutdown failed in the Senate on Thursday, after Democrats refused to back funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unless it included reforms to federal agents involved in Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
However a Senate aide confirmed that Democrats have been negotiating with Republicans on a deal that could result in passage of most government funding bills and a short-term measure covering the DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the US border patrol.
The intention would be to buy time for further talks over Democrats’ demands for changes to immigration enforcement in the wake of the deaths of US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, which include an end to mask wearing by federal agents, the imposition of a code of conduct and independent investigations of its violations.
Nonetheless, the procedural vote’s failure in the Senate appears to guarantee at least a partial government shutdown beginning after Friday, when the current spending authorizations for many government departments expire. Any changes to the DHS funding bill would have to be approved by the House of Representatives, which is out of session until Monday.
“Republicans in Congress cannot allow this violent status quo to continue. They must work with Democrats on legislation, real legislation, strong legislation to rein ICE in,” the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said before the vote.
“Democrats are ready to pass five bipartisan funding bills in the Senate, we’re ready to pass them today. We’re ready to fund 96% of the federal government today, but the DHS bill still needs a lot of work.”
The Republican Senate majority leader, John Thune, had asked the chamber to pass a package of six bills that would fund through September departments including homeland security, defense, labor, and health and human services. The House of Representatives approved the measures last week, but Democratic senators rejected the DHS funding bill following the Saturday shooting death of Alex Pretti in Minnesota’s largest city by federal agents
Schumer demanded that the DHS bill be set aside so that reforms to agents’ conduct could be written into it, but Thune declined, setting the stage for Thursday’s failed vote, which required at least some Democratic support to clear the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
All 47 Democratic senators voted against advancing the package, along with seven Republican senators. Thune also voted no so that he could bring the measure back up for consideration in the future.
A Senate aide confirmed to the Guardian that the two sides had been discussing a deal to fund the DHS for the short term and the rest of the government through the fiscal year, but emphasized that the talks remained fluid.
Signs have meanwhile emerged that Republicans are looking to compromise, with Trump acknowledging the negotiations during a cabinet meeting at the White House. “I think we’re getting close,” he said, adding: “Hopefully we won’t have a shutdown.”
A White House official said that the president “wants the government to remain open, and the administration has been working with both parties to ensure the American people don’t have to endure another shutdown”.
Before Democrats announced their conditions on Wednesday, Thune told reporters: “We’re anxious to hear what their demands are, what their requests are, what their asks are. I think the administration is willing to sit down with them and have a discussion, perhaps a negotiation about how do we move forward.”
At a press conference in Minneapolis on Thursday morning, Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, noted that the administration has “recognized that certain improvements could and should be made” in the ongoing immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, but did not specify what those looked like or when they would be implemented.
“For the people out there don’t like what ICE is doing, if you want certain laws reformed, then take it up with Congress,” Homan said. “They’re enforcing laws enacted by Congress and signed by president. The same laws have been on the books for the last six presidents I worked for.”
With the House out of session, it remains likely that funding for the DHS will expire, at least over the weekend. That would be unlikely to stop ICE’s deportation operations, since the agency received tens of billions of dollars under the One Big Beautiful Bill act passed last year, and the White House could also order its employees to work through a shutdown.
Shrai Popat contributed reporting from Minneapolis
