Schumer: Strip DHS From Funding Bill or Risk Shutdown

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday his party is committed to fast-tracking five appropriations bills before Friday's deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.

But he said Senate Democrats are unwilling to pass funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which is central to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts.

A second fatal shooting this month involving a federal law enforcement officer and a protester occurred Saturday in Minneapolis, heightening concerns among congressional Democrats about funding DHS.

"Senate Democrats have made clear we are ready to quickly advance the five appropriations bills separately from the DHS funding bill before the January 30th deadline," Schumer said in a statement, according to The Hill. "The responsibility to prevent a partial government shutdown is on Leader [John] Thune [R-S.D.] and Senate Republicans.

"If Leader Thune puts those five bills on the floor this week, we can pass them right away. If not, Republicans will again be responsible for another government shutdown."

Senate GOP leaders, however, expect to move forward as planned with a six-bill funding package that includes DHS. Republicans and the White House have reached out to Senate Democrats about how to proceed, but a Senate Democratic leadership aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Politico they have not proposed "realistic solutions."

"Look, at this point, the White House supports the bipartisan work that was done to advance the bipartisan appropriations package, and we want to see that passed," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in Monday's briefing, which aired live on Newsmax and the free Newsmax2 streaming platform.

"Policy discussions on immigration and Minnesota are happening. Look, the president is leading those discussions, as evidenced by his correspondence with Gov. [Tim] Walz this morning. But that should not be at the expense of government funding for the American people, which would include, as you know, FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] funding.

"We are in the midst of the storm that took place over the weekend, and many Americans are still being impacted by that. So, we absolutely do not want to see that funding lapse.

"And we want the Senate to move forward with passing the bipartisan appropriations package that was negotiated on a bipartisan basis."

So far, the House and Senate have passed six of the 12 annual appropriations bills. The House approved the remaining six last week in several batches, adopting a rule that bundled them into a single package and sent them to the Senate.

In addition to DHS, the package includes funding for the departments of War, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and State, as well as financial services-related government operations.

The Senate must still act on most of the remaining appropriations bills to avoid a partial government shutdown. Schumer said Democrats are willing to expedite passage of all but the DHS funding measure by waiving procedural steps that typically delay appropriations bills in the upper chamber.

Several rank-and-file Senate Republicans have spoken out against any effort to defund DHS, and Thune cannot separate the department's funding from the broader package without unanimous consent, which is considered unlikely.

Democrats argue that if the Senate passed the other five bills independently, nearly the entire federal government would remain open, leaving DHS as the lone unfunded Cabinet department.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who voted with Republicans every time to reopen the government during the shutdown that began Oct. 1, on Monday called for an end to the ICE operation in Minneapolis. The operation resulted in the fatal shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7 and the shooting death of Alex Pretti on Saturday.

But Fetterman said in a statement that he opposes any government shutdown, even as he agrees the DHS funding measure should be removed from the broader package.

"A vote to shut our government down will not defund ICE," Fetterman said. "DHS has 178B in funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which I did not vote for. I reject the calls to defund or abolish ICE. I strongly disagree with many strategies and practices ICE deployed in Minneapolis and believe that must change.

"I want a conversation on the DHS appropriations bill and support stripping it from the minibus. It is unlikely that will happen and our country will suffer another shutdown. We must find a way forward and I remain committed to being a voice of reason and common sense."

The House, which is in recess after passing its appropriations package, would need to return to approve any changes the Senate makes before the shutdown deadline.