WASHINGTON — Senators are making headway toward a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security as Republicans sent a proposal to Democrats Tuesday. But President Donald Trump has yet to fully get on board publicly.
After a White House meeting between the president and a group of GOP senators, including Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., on Monday, Republicans returned to the Capitol with a new sense of optimism about ending the 40-day stalemate.
The Republican-led deal would fund the bulk of DHS except for ICE’s enforcement and removal operations.
“I think we stand shoulder to shoulder with our law enforcement officers, and we’re gonna make sure that they have their resources and the funding they need,” Britt, the lead Republican negotiator of DHS funding, told Alabama Daily News.
“So (I’m) happy to keep talking about (ICE’s enforcement and removal operations), but let’s get the rest of this done. I mean, literally, this is what (Democrats) asked for. So, they finally got it, and let’s do it,” she added.
Democrats have demanded reforms to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics since fatal shootings in Minneapolis. Since then, Democrats have also offered up legislation to fund all agencies under DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, which Republicans have rejected in favor of funding the entire department.
Britt, who had previously advocated for funding all of DHS, told ADN she would have preferred that approach, but said after more than a month of gridlock, “we’ve got to make sure that people get paid and move forward.” More than 100,000 DHS employees have not been paid during the partial shutdown, according to the House Appropriations Committee.
As airport lines stretch longer by the day, the pressure continues to mount on lawmakers to reach an agreement, especially ahead of their scheduled two-week recess that’s set to begin next week. In Alabama, Huntsville International Airport started a gift card drive to support TSA workers who are missing paychecks.
During the swearing-in of the new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin Tuesday, Trump didn’t endorse the Republicans’ plan. Instead, he said he would take a “good, hard look” at the proposal.
“They’re negotiating a deal,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “I guess they’re getting fairly close. But I think any deal they make, I’m pretty much not happy with it.”
Over the weekend, Trump said he would not support any DHS deal unless the Senate passed the voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act, which lawmakers have been debating since last week. The bill, which would require Democratic support to meet the 60-vote threshold, doesn’t have a clear path to becoming law.
As part of the deal to reopen DHS, Republicans are pushing to pass parts of the elections bills through reconciliation. A party-line bill could also be used to fund ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, Republicans said.
But the House Freedom Caucus has already expressed skepticism about the prospects of using reconciliation to advance the SAVE America Act.
“This is gaslighting. The American people are not stupid and will not accept more failure theater from Republicans in Congress,” the caucus said in a social media post.
What’s next
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republicans are “ready to move” on the proposal to reopen much of DHS this week, adding the “ball’s in the Democrats’ court.”
“It’s really going to be incumbent upon them if DHS is going to open up, and we’re going to have TSA agents starting to get paid again before the weekend,” Thune told reporters.
But Senate Democrats weren’t ready to commit to the Republicans’ proposal on Tuesday afternoon. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said negotiations were ongoing. He also told reporters that Democrats would send a counteroffer that would “contain significant reform” to Republicans.
“We need strong, strong reforms and we need to rein in ICE,” Schumer said during a press conference.