The Senate failed Thursday to clear a procedural hurdle on a government funding package, bringing a partial shutdown closer after Democrats demanded removal of Department of Homeland Security funding following fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
The procedural vote on the six-bill package failed 45-55, with seven Republicans joining Democrats in blocking the measure. The vote increases the likelihood of a shutdown beginning Saturday at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Saturday that Democrats would not provide the necessary votes to advance the package unless DHS funding is stripped out. With 53 Republicans, Democratic support is necessary to reach the 60-vote threshold.
“Democrats are ready to pass five bipartisan funding bills in the Senate,” Schumer said Thursday on the Senate floor. “We’re ready to fund 96 percent of the federal government today, but the DHS bill still needs a lot of work.”
The impasse stems from outrage over federal immigration agents fatally shooting Alex Pretti, 37, in Minneapolis on Saturday — the second U.S. citizen killed by federal agents in the city within three weeks. ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, 37, on Jan. 7.
“Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward,” Schumer said in a statement Sunday. “Senate Republicans have seen the same horrific footage that all Americans have watched of the blatant abuses of Americans by ICE in Minnesota.”
Sen. Angus King of Maine, who was among three senators who crossed the aisle to negotiate a deal with Republicans to end the longest government shutdown in history last year, said he will not vote for a package that includes the DHS measure.
“I can’t vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under these circumstances,” King told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is weighing a run for governor, also opposed the package.
“No, I am not voting for this funding,” Klobuchar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “There have been three killings in Minneapolis since the beginning of the year. And two have been committed by federal agents — one ICE, and the other border control.”
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee who negotiated the funding package, pledged to vote against the measure.
“Federal agents cannot murder people in broad daylight and face zero consequences,” Murray wrote on social media. “The DHS bill needs to be split off from the larger funding package before the Senate.”
Even some Democrats who voted to reopen the government during last fall’s 43-day shutdown said they would oppose the current package. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, one of eight Senate Democrats who voted to end the previous shutdown, said she will not support the DHS funding bill.
“The Trump Administration and Kristi Noem are putting undertrained, combative federal agents on the streets with no accountability,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. “I will not support the current Homeland Security funding bill.”
A Senate GOP spokesperson told CNBC on Sunday that Republicans will not remove the DHS funding portion despite Democratic warnings.
“Government funding expires at the end of the week, and Republicans are determined to not have another government shutdown,” the spokesperson said.
The package includes funding for the departments of Defense, Treasury, State, Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation, in addition to Homeland Security. The Defense Department accounts for $831 billion of the package’s $1.2 trillion total.
Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that Democrats are negotiating with the White House on a way forward.
“There’s a path to consider some of those things and negotiate that out between Republicans, Democrats, House, Senate, White House, but that’s not going to happen in this bill,” Thune told reporters.
Altering the bill would require House approval. The House is on recess this week, complicating efforts to pass revised legislation before the deadline.
A massive snowstorm over Washington and wide stretches of the country further compressed the timeline, with the Senate canceling Monday votes due to weather.
If the government funding lapses, it would mark the second federal shutdown in four months during President Trump’s second term.
