DHS on brink of prolonged shutdown after Senate Democrats block funding over ICE
Who's accountable for the results?
The Senate failed to advance a stopgap spending measure Thursday for the Department of Homeland Security, all but ensuring funding will lapse on Saturday and cause a partial government shutdown.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are bracing for a prolonged shuttering of the department that oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a deal on Democratic demands to restrict President Donald Trump’s deportation operations and Congress’s recess next week.
A vote requiring support from 60 senators failed 52-47, mostly along party lines, in the GOP-controlled chamber. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the lone Democratic “yes.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) argued that a DHS shutdown offers Democrats “exactly zero changes to the status quo.”
“What is it … that Democrats want? Policy changes or is it a political issue?” Thune said. “Democrats are never going to get their full wish list. That’s not the way this works.”
Homeland Security is the only department not yet funded by Congress for the remainder of the fiscal year that runs through September, after Democrats last month forced Republicans to split the DHS from a broader spending agreement so the two sides could negotiate immigration enforcement policies. Affected agencies that will shut down under the DHS beyond those handling deportations include the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Coast Guard.
The Trump administration’s conclusion of its enhanced Minnesota deportations, announced Thursday by White House border czar Tom Homan, failed to move the needle for Democrats as they stood firm on demands that policy changes be etched into law.
“Without legislation, what Tom Homan says today could be reversed tomorrow on a whim from Donald Trump,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “Without legislation, Donald Trump could choose to put a rogue force in any city they want and have them operate without any guardrails.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) arrives for a classified briefing on Jan. 5, 2026, at the Capitol in Washington. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)
Despite implications of shuttering a department with sweeping national security duties, neither side faces imminent pressure to reach a compromise on ICE provisions that Democrats want, such as unmasking federal agents, requiring judicial warrants for deportations, and use-of-force rules mirroring those for local police.
HOMAN: TRUMP APPROVED WRAPPING UP ICE …
Who's accountable for the results?
The Senate failed to advance a stopgap spending measure Thursday for the Department of Homeland Security, all but ensuring funding will lapse on Saturday and cause a partial government shutdown.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are bracing for a prolonged shuttering of the department that oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a deal on Democratic demands to restrict President Donald Trump’s deportation operations and Congress’s recess next week.
A vote requiring support from 60 senators failed 52-47, mostly along party lines, in the GOP-controlled chamber. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the lone Democratic “yes.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) argued that a DHS shutdown offers Democrats “exactly zero changes to the status quo.”
“What is it … that Democrats want? Policy changes or is it a political issue?” Thune said. “Democrats are never going to get their full wish list. That’s not the way this works.”
Homeland Security is the only department not yet funded by Congress for the remainder of the fiscal year that runs through September, after Democrats last month forced Republicans to split the DHS from a broader spending agreement so the two sides could negotiate immigration enforcement policies. Affected agencies that will shut down under the DHS beyond those handling deportations include the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Coast Guard.
The Trump administration’s conclusion of its enhanced Minnesota deportations, announced Thursday by White House border czar Tom Homan, failed to move the needle for Democrats as they stood firm on demands that policy changes be etched into law.
“Without legislation, what Tom Homan says today could be reversed tomorrow on a whim from Donald Trump,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “Without legislation, Donald Trump could choose to put a rogue force in any city they want and have them operate without any guardrails.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) arrives for a classified briefing on Jan. 5, 2026, at the Capitol in Washington. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)
Despite implications of shuttering a department with sweeping national security duties, neither side faces imminent pressure to reach a compromise on ICE provisions that Democrats want, such as unmasking federal agents, requiring judicial warrants for deportations, and use-of-force rules mirroring those for local police.
HOMAN: TRUMP APPROVED WRAPPING UP ICE …
DHS on brink of prolonged shutdown after Senate Democrats block funding over ICE
Who's accountable for the results?
The Senate failed to advance a stopgap spending measure Thursday for the Department of Homeland Security, all but ensuring funding will lapse on Saturday and cause a partial government shutdown.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are bracing for a prolonged shuttering of the department that oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a deal on Democratic demands to restrict President Donald Trump’s deportation operations and Congress’s recess next week.
A vote requiring support from 60 senators failed 52-47, mostly along party lines, in the GOP-controlled chamber. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the lone Democratic “yes.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) argued that a DHS shutdown offers Democrats “exactly zero changes to the status quo.”
“What is it … that Democrats want? Policy changes or is it a political issue?” Thune said. “Democrats are never going to get their full wish list. That’s not the way this works.”
Homeland Security is the only department not yet funded by Congress for the remainder of the fiscal year that runs through September, after Democrats last month forced Republicans to split the DHS from a broader spending agreement so the two sides could negotiate immigration enforcement policies. Affected agencies that will shut down under the DHS beyond those handling deportations include the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Coast Guard.
The Trump administration’s conclusion of its enhanced Minnesota deportations, announced Thursday by White House border czar Tom Homan, failed to move the needle for Democrats as they stood firm on demands that policy changes be etched into law.
“Without legislation, what Tom Homan says today could be reversed tomorrow on a whim from Donald Trump,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “Without legislation, Donald Trump could choose to put a rogue force in any city they want and have them operate without any guardrails.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) arrives for a classified briefing on Jan. 5, 2026, at the Capitol in Washington. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)
Despite implications of shuttering a department with sweeping national security duties, neither side faces imminent pressure to reach a compromise on ICE provisions that Democrats want, such as unmasking federal agents, requiring judicial warrants for deportations, and use-of-force rules mirroring those for local police.
HOMAN: TRUMP APPROVED WRAPPING UP ICE …
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