Democrats in Washington on Thursday voted down another bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security after offering several unsuccessful attempts to fund parts of the agency through a shutdown that began last month.
The Senate voted largely along party lines to kill the measure Thursday afternoon before lawmakers departed for the weekend. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, was the only member to cross party lines and vote to fully fund the agency. All Republicans voted in line with their party.
As a result the entire agency will remain shut down for at least the next few days.
Democrats offered several standalone measures to fund parts of DHS, excluding ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, but Republicans rejected the measures by witholding unanimous consent.
This latest vote is significant as it followed the first full missed paycheck for thousands of TSA officers around the country at a time when the security force was already facing the beginnings of staffing shortages that typically accompany longer shutdowns. Federal employees deemed essential, like TSA agents and members of Border Patrol, are often asked to work under delayed pay during shutdown disputes on the Hill – these disputes rarely threaten multiple pay cycles, but when they do, many affected employees begin sick-outs or otherwise not showing up for work as they seek short-term employment opportunities to keep food on the table.
Lines have been growing at airports across the country as staff shortages grow worse and worse by the day. In Houston over the weekend airport security delays stretched into the hours, though reports suggest that wait times elsewhere are more modest. The lines could grow in the days ahead as the weather warms up and the first round of fully deferred paychecks takes its toll on staff attendance numbers.
If the push to break the deadlock in the Senate had succeeded on Thursday, it’s not even clear that the shutdown would have ended. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday morning that he wouldn’t sign a DHS funding measure into law until the chamber passed the Save America Act, a voter ID bill with no chance of getting enough votes to break a filibuster.
“I, as president, will not sign other Bills until this is passed,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
Democrats have blocked funding for DHS at current levels since mid-February, demanding that Republicans agree to a list of reforms for ICE and other DHS agents involved in the president’s mass deportation campaign. Among those reforms include a requirement that agents not conceal their identities with masks, a judicial warrant requirement for searches, and and end to large-scale raids.
The president and his party have balked on some of those demands, while presenting their own counter-offer. Lawmakers prepared to leave Washington on Thursday with no end in sight for the deadlock that has gripped the chamber now for nearly a month.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blamed Republicans for the situation in a floor speech a day earlier, as his party prepared to offer unanimous consent requests to fund other parts of DHS.
“I don’t want to hear any complaints from Republicans about TSA not being funded if they block this today,” said Schumer. “I don’t want to hear any complaints about Republicans about Coast Guard not being funded if they block this today. I don’t want to hear any complaints from Republicans about cybersecurity and CISA if they block this today. The bottom line is simple.”
“Of course, had the Republicans agreed to very simple, simple things to do with ICE and with Border Patrol, things that every police department does—show identity, use warrants before you bust in on somebody’s house, we could get this done and get everything funded. But the bottom line is they refused, probably because the right wing doesn’t like it,” said the Democratic leader.
