The White House is engaged in a last-ditch effort to avert a government shutdown, negotiating with Senate Democrats a deal that could split off money for the Department of Homeland Security from a larger spending bill.
No agreement has been reached between Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the White House, according to a source familiar with the negotiations, but the development signals President Donald Trump’s interest in averting an extended lapse in funding at midnight on Friday.
The White House has taken a series of steps to de-escalate nationwide tensions over its immigration raids after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday, but Democrats have used the funding cliff to demand concessions that would rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement conduct.
Republican leaders initially urged Democrats to work out a deal through executive action, thereby allowing the Senate to keep a House-passed spending bill intact. But the openness to separating the DHS funding, reported overnight by CNN and the New York Times, suggests that talks are moving in Democrats’ direction.
Schumer had demanded that any compromise be codified by Congress, citing Democratic mistrust of the administration, and is asking for the Senate to pass five of the six remaining funding bills, with a short-term patch for DHS money.
It’s unclear what the White House would be willing to accept as part of those larger negotiations, but on Wednesday, Democrats coalesced around a broad set of “legislative objectives” that includes a ban on agents wearing face masks and a “uniform code of conduct” akin to the rules governing use-of-force for local police.
CHUCK SCHUMER LAYS OUT ICE DEMANDS TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Among Republicans, a growing number of rank-and-file members have urged the short-term patch for DHS, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters Wednesday that he was leaving that option on the table.
The fast-moving negotiations come as the Senate is set to hold its first procedural vote on the funding legislation on Thursday morning. Republican leaders were reluctant to split off DHS funding, given the difficulty of passing the bills again in the House, where conservatives have refused to vote for anything that has not already cleared the lower chamber earlier this month.
At the same time, the Trump administration has tried to turn down the political temperature over the Pretti shooting, agreeing to wind down its immigration operations in Maine and tapping border czar Tom Homan to oversee the raids in Minneapolis.
Even if the White House agrees to a government funding deal with Democrats, there will likely be at least a brief shutdown, as the House is not set to return until next week.