The risk of another partial government shutdown escalated quickly Saturday after federal agents shot and killed a Minneapolis resident who was protesting a Trump administration immigration crackdown.
Within hours of the shooting, Senate Democrats pledged to oppose a roughly $1.33 trillion spending package needed by Friday to avert a shutdown if funding for the Homeland Security Department remains part of it.
“Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement Saturday night, calling the federal tactics used in Minneapolis “appalling” and “unacceptable in any American city.”
Support from Democrats may need to be in the double digits to clear the six-bill spending package in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to break a filibuster.
Republicans control just 53 seats, and several of those GOP senators — Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin —have been “no” votes to advance full-year appropriations measures, citing earmarks and other concerns.
In addition to Homeland Security, the package includes the Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD, Financial Services and National Security-State bills, making up the lion’s share of total discretionary spending for the fiscal year that began last October. Current funding for most federal agencies is set to run out Jan. 30.
The six-bill “minibus” had previously appeared to be on a glide path to becoming law, having passed the House on Thursday with bipartisan support. Democrats had negotiated some guardrails on Immigration and Customs Enforcement after an agent killed U.S. citizen Renee Good earlier this month.
But to move the package through the House, leaders allowed a separate vote on the Homeland Security bill, which was backed by only seven Democrats in that chamber.
Now, with all six bills packaged together, Senate Democrats must decide whether they are prepared to trigger a shutdown by voting against the entire spending measure. Any changes made to the package, such as stripping out Homeland Security funding, would require another vote in the House, which is scheduled to be on recess all next week.
Democratic opposition grows
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Saturday that the latest shooting “looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.”
The victim in this case was Alex Pretti, an intensive-care nurse reportedly shot by a Border Patrol officer. The Trump administration claimed Pretti was carrying a gun, but other reports said he was simply holding a phone.
Democrats say Noem’s department is brutalizing Americans in an immigration crackdown for which there has been no accountability.
Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, both Nevada Democrats who voted with Republicans to end last year’s record-breaking partial government shutdown, announced they would vote against the spending package.
“We have bipartisan agreement on 96 percent of the budget. We’ve already passed six funding bills,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. “Let’s pass the remaining five bipartisan bills and fund essential agencies while we continue to fight for a Department of Homeland Security that respects Americans’ constitutional rights and preserves federal law enforcement’s essential role to keep us safe.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who also voted to end the government shutdown last fall, on Friday came out against the spending package, in part related to the level of safeguards in the Homeland Security bill.
So did Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, the top Democrat on National Security-State appropriations — known as State-Foreign Operations in the Senate — who is widely viewed as an ascendant member of Democratic leadership, also came out against the spending package.
“I am voting against funding for DHS until and unless more controls are put in place to hold ICE accountable,” Schatz said.
The Senate won’t be back until Tuesday after Monday votes were delayed because of the snowstorm impacting a large swath of the country over the weekend. Senate Democrats plan to hold a conference call Sunday at 6 p.m., according to a Democratic source.
The post New Minnesota shooting leaves spending package in peril appeared first on Roll Call.
