WASHINGTON — Congress is taking steps this week toward averting another government shutdown, but funding the Department of Homeland Security has become a thorny issue in that effort.
After an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis last week, some Democrats, angry with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, are opposed to funding the agency without reforms.
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., the chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, is negotiating with Democrats to find a pathway forward on the bill before funding runs dry Jan. 30.
“One of the things that’s important to remember is we are here to fund the Department of Homeland Security,” Britt told Alabama Daily News in an interview. “This is not where immigration enforcement legislation occurs.”
She highlighted how DHS encompasses TSA, the Coast Guard and FEMA. If Congress is unable to pass an appropriations bill for the department in the next two weeks, all those agencies would be impacted.
But some Democrats, including the Congressional Progressive Caucus, are adamant that they will oppose a DHS funding bill until “meaningful and significant reforms to immigration enforcement practices” are made.
“We cannot support additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security without seriously, meaningful and significant reforms to the way that federal authorities conduct activity in our cities, our communities and our neighborhoods,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, said during a press conference Tuesday.
Specifically, Democrats have floated not allowing ICE agents to wear masks, requiring warrants for arrests and obtaining more information on detention facilities.
During the negotiations, Britt said Republicans have sent Democrats a “counter offer” but wouldn’t specify what that offer entails. If Republicans and Democrats can’t reach an agreement, Congress could end up with a short-term funding patch for DHS.
“I can’t imagine a world where Democrats decide to allow, in their words, not mine, Donald Trump to have a slush fund when it came to the Department of Homeland Security,” Britt told ADN, referring to Sen. Patty Murray’s comments about a continuing resolution. Murray is the top Senate Democrat appropriator.
“So they’re going to have to square those two things if they choose to not move forward.”
On Wednesday, the House passed two more spending bills with broad bipartisan support, bringing the total that have passed the lower chamber to eight.
This week, the Senate is advancing a three-bill package that passed the House last week, which funds multiple agencies, including the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and Interior.
Congress has to pass 12 appropriations bills each year to fund the government. Four bills, including the DHS one, have yet to be released. Originally, appropriators had hoped to add the Homeland Security bill to the package that passed the House on Wednesday.
Britt remains optimistic that the DHS funding bill can be added onto a final bipartisan package, which would include two of the biggest lifts, funding the Department of Defense and the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
“That is absolutely the hope,” Britt said.
“If for whatever reason, that doesn’t occur, we’re going to continue to look for pathways to make that happen,” she added.
But adding the DHS bill to that package could prove tricky. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT, the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member, is strongly opposed to funding DHS as is.
“The United States Congress should not fund a Department of Homeland Security that is not obeying the laws of the United States of America,” Murphy said during a rally protesting ICE.
Despite the difficulty in finding a bipartisan agreement to fund DHS, Congress is still making significant progress on other bills to fund the government, as lawmakers are eager to avoid another shutdown.
“I feel good about being able to keep the government open,” Britt told ADN.