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Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., the only Senate Democrat to join the GOP to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), accused his colleagues of favoring a foreign party in their gagging vote.
Senate Democrats dug in their heels against funding the agency Thursday as they push for tougher reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good during an immigration operation in Minnesota.
But Fetterman believed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his team were missing the point.
GOVERNMENT TO SHUTDOWN AT MIDNIGHT AFTER DEMS, WHITE HOUSE FAIL TO ATTACK DHS
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., re-armed his party and joined Senate Republicans in supporting DHS. He pointed out that ICE, CBP and immigration operations would not be harmed by the shutdown, but other key services such as TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard would be. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
“This shutdown has no impact on ICE’s operations,” Fetterman said on the X website. “The entire country refuses to strike the entire Department of Homeland Security. Democrats want a way forward to reform ICE without harming our critical security agencies.”
Senate Democrats’ refusal to fund DHS this week has caused a partial government shutdown that only affects DHS. The deadline for a deal is midnight on Friday, and the chances of that happening are almost non-existent.
This is because both chambers of Congress quickly fled Washington, DC, on Thursday, with many in the upper chamber leaving the country entirely for the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
DHS SHUTDOWN EXPLAINED: WHO WORKS WITHOUT PAYMENT, WHAT HAPPENS TO AIRPORTS AND DISASTER RESPONSE
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., announced that Democrats will not accept an extension of funding for DHS as there are days left until the partial shutdown. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Schumer and his caucus argued that the White House and Republicans were not serious about changes to ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and argued that the GOP’s offer on their list of demands did not go far enough to get their votes.
But to Fetterman’s point, shutting down DHS won’t stop the flow of money to immigration jobs.
That’s because Republicans in Congress last year put nearly $75 billion into the ICE agency through President Donald Trump’s “big, good bill.” That money is spread over the next four years, meaning the shutdown now will have little, if any, effect on ICE’s core operations.
DEMS COMES IN, CONFIRMED CLOSED WITH CASH BLOCK THROUGH DHS
A TSA agent wears a patch on his uniform at Miami International Airport on Dec. 17, 2024, in Miami. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
But other functions under the purview of DHS, such as TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard and others, will face the brunt of the partial shutdown.
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Negotiations on a deal are expected to continue in the background, and Senate Democrats have signaled that they are considering giving the White House a counter-proposal to the GOP proposal.
However, a vote to reopen and fund the agency won’t happen until early next week.
