Republicans Won’t Split the DHS Funding Bill as a Partial Shutdown Grows Likelier

The federal government is poised to have a partial shutdown at the end of the week after nearly all Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said in statements that they won’t support the final appropriations package if Homeland Security funding is not stripped out before a vote.

The noteworthy statements from Senate Democrats came hours after federal immigration officials in Minnesota killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen Saturday in a shooting recorded and posted online by bystanders. The footage led to public scrutiny of the operations of the Department of Homeland Security from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

“Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward,” Schumer said in a statement Sunday. “Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill. This is best course of action, and the American people are on our side.”

Since Friday, a small group of Senate Democrats, led by Sens. Chris Murphy and Alex Padilla, have been calling their colleagues and whipping votes against the DHS funding bill, a person familiar with the matter told NOTUS.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins is trying to prevent a shutdown with the current appropriations package, including pulling the DHS appropriations bill out of the package from the other bills that Democrats would help pass, a person familiar with the matter told NOTUS.

But Senate Republican leaders seem on track to move forward with one vote on all the bills bundled together, according to a Senate GOP leadership aide.

“Government funding expires at the end of the week, and Republicans are determined to not have another government shutdown,” the aide said. “We will move forward as planned and hope Democrats can find a path forward to join us.”

Even if Senate Republicans agree to break off DHS funding from the other five appropriations bills in the package, it means the legislation would go back to the House. There is no guarantee the House will be back in time to vote.

House Republican leadership likely will not call members back until after the Senate acts, a source familiar with the matter told NOTUS, which at the earliest could be Wednesday. This would make it a struggle to approve a new bill before the funding deadline at midnight Friday, when government funding is set to lapse.

There’s also no guarantee that the DHS funding bill, if separated from the other items, can even pass the Senate on its own as a number of Senate Democrats, including moderates, have already voiced their opposition to it.

“As a member of the U.S. Senate, I have the responsibility to hold the Trump Administration accountable when I see abuses of power — like we are seeing from ICE right now,” Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen said in a statement. “That is why I’ll be voting against any government funding package that contains the bill that funds this agency, until we have guardrails in place to curtail these abuses of power and ensure more accountability and transparency.”

Using leverage on funding isn’t the only way Democrats want to push back at DHS. House Democrats held a caucus call Sunday, joined by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, where it was discussed the House would move forward with impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Rep. Robin Kelly introduced articles of impeachment against Noem on Jan. 14, with cosponsors growing to 118 on Sunday.

The weekend’s developments in Minneapolis prompted some moderate Democrats who voted to fund DHS last week to publicly criticize Noem.

“It’s unacceptable to have another needless death in Minnesota, and it’s unacceptable to have elected officials, candidates, and administration officials continue to throw gas on this fire, or tacitly encourage assaults on law enforcement and anyone else,” Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez said on X. “The situation is un-American and Secretary Noem needs to step down.”

Republicans are also calling for greater transparency.

Sen. Thom Tillis said in a post on X that there “must be a thorough and impartial investigation into yesterday’s Minneapolis shooting, which is the basic standard that law enforcement and the American people expect following any officer-involved shooting.” He added: “Any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins are doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President Trump’s legacy.”

Another Republican, Rep. Michael Baumgartner of Washington, said Saturday on X that he was “disturbed by what I’ve seen from today’s video from Minnesota.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, a constant foil for the administration, criticized the administration. After a U.S. attorney said on X that “there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you” if they’re approached with a gun, Massie responded.

“Carrying a firearm is not a death sentence, it’s a Constitutionally protected God-given right, and if you don’t understand this you have no business in law enforcement or government,” Massie said on X.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer suggested in an interview on Fox News that ICE should consider leaving Minneapolis.

Democrats also denounced a letter Attorney General Pam Bondi sent to Minnesota officials saying ICE officials would leave the state if it turns over its voter database to the Trump administration. They pointed to the letter as another reason why they won’t vote to fund the agency.

“Guess what? This has never been about safety or immigration. It’s a pretext for Trump to take over elections in swing states,” Murphy said on X.

Lawmakers also said the shooting needs to be investigated and Congress needs to increase oversight of DHS.

Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Andrew Garbarino, called for the heads of ICE, Customs and Border Patrol and Citizenship and Immigration Services to testify before his committee for an oversight hearing in wake of the shooting.

“It is critical that Congress conduct its due diligence to ensure the safety of law enforcement officers and the communities they protect,” Garbarino said in a statement. “I take my oversight duties of the Department of Homeland Security seriously, and we expect recent events to be thoroughly discussed at our hearing.”

Sen. Pete Ricketts, former governor of Nebraska, said in a post X: “The nation witnessed a horrifying situation this weekend. My prayers are with the family of Alex Pretti. My support for funding ICE remains the same …I expect a prioritized, transparent investigation into this incident.”