Politics

DHS Shutdown May Be Over Soon As Senate Races Toward Off Ramp

John Thune in 2023 (Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America / Wikimedia Commons)

Following a breakthrough Monday night meeting between Senate Republicans and President Donald Trump, a deal to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security may finally be in sight after a costly, prolonged government shutdown.

The talks centered on funding all Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and instead tackling the law enforcement agency in a separate reconciliation bill — a deal Trump initially turned down on Sunday. The lawmakers went to the Oval Office to advance the proposal after Trump called on the upper chamber to stay in session through a two-week Easter recess if DHS remained shut down.

A White House official said Tuesday — the 39th day of the Democratic-driven partial shutdown — that the deal being workshopped “seems to be an acceptable solution,” according to Politico.

Republican Sens. Katie Britt, Lindsey Graham, Bernie Moreno and Steve Daines led the negotiation, and Britt committed to working through Monday night to exchange legislative text, which is still fluid. A hard line for the president was to include the SAVE America Act in the reconciliation bill alongside ICE funding, but the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) is skeptical about joining the two, calling the move “gaslighting” and “failure theater.”

The reconciliation process only requires 51 votes and is limited to budgetary items. There is also an endless amendment process resulting in a “vote-a-rama” that the HFC says is no different than the multiple amendments Democrats could have introduced using the talking filibuster, which Republicans avoided. However, the vote-a-rama process is significantly quicker than the amendment debates of the talking filibuster.

Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford was also realistic about the bill’s timeline, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday the package could take a month or more to finalize — a process that would not begin until the Easter recess ends on April 12. The legislation would have to go through the budget committee, get to the floor, face multiple amendment votes, and reach agreement with the House.

Lankford, alongside Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, are also proponents of going after fraud in the reconciliation bill as an offset to the costs.

“We ought to be able to enact some reforms to give the Treasury more power. For example, withholding funds from states that simply won’t provide information and don’t have the proper controls,” Johnson told the DCNF. “I think we can easily save $200 billion in just eliminating fraud which shouldn’t hurt anybody other than fraudsters.”

To abide by the budgetary retirements and the Senate Parliamentarian’s rules, some senators are considering creating financial incentives for states to implement the voter identification policies and ballot security measures.

It’s unclear what else would go in the reconciliation bill. Depending on what the Pentagon requests for the war in Iran, the upper chamber could also aim to include supplemental funding for the ongoing conflict.

“We’ll pass a supplemental when it’s appropriate and get it right,” Johnson said in early March.

Democrats have been pushing to fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which the caucus has not includedin their funding proposals, would be included in the deal being discussed by Senate Republicans.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sees potential for the deal but is still looking to secure “other [ICE] reforms,” according to a spokesperson. However, not all senators are confident Congress can pass a reconciliation package.

“This idea that they’ll get funded through a reconciliation package is a pipe dream,” Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott said on Tuesday. “We’re not going to get a reconciliation package done.”

“I don’t think it’s a good approach,” Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican running for reelection in November, told reporters Tuesday.