WASHINGTON — In hopes of finally reaching a deal to end the month-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown, Border Czar Tom Homan met with Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., top appropriators and centrist Democrats at the U.S. Capitol Thursday.
Despite the bipartisan in-person conversation, the top Democratic appropriator, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, left the more than hour-long meeting, saying that Republicans and Democrats are still “a long ways apart.”
Britt, the chair of Homeland Security Appropriations, has been calling for member-level talks between lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for the duration of the now 35-day shutdown. The White House and Senate Democrats had previously been trading offers.
Thursday’s conversation marked the first such sit-down with bipartisan appropriators, which Alabama’s junior senator called “progress.” Some of the Democrats who crossed party lines to end the longest-ever shutdown last year were in attendance.
“I believe we had good faith conversations,” Britt told reporters, leaving the meeting. “We’ve got to get DHS funded for the safety and security of Americans. (Homeland security workers) deserve a paycheck.”
Homan’s Capitol Hill appearance brought some gravity to the negotiations.
“To have his level of expertise there was tremendous,” Britt said.
As TSA lines at airports across the country stretch longer and the Iran war escalates, lawmakers face growing pressure to find a way out of the gridlock. More than 50,000 TSA agents have been working without pay for more than a month. Other employees at DHS agencies, including FEMA and the Secret Service, are also not receiving paychecks.
Democrats are pushing for reforms to the Trump administration’s immigration tactics before they support funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Some of their demands include prohibiting federal agents from wearing masks, ending judicial warrants, requiring officers to wear proper identification and ending roving patrols.
After Thursday’s meeting, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the appropriations chair, said Democrats’ list of demands “keeps growing” as part of the negotiations, but she did not specify what those were.
Earlier this week, the White House sent a letter to Collins and Britt detailing five changes it would be willing to codify to its immigration enforcement operations. Those policies include body cameras for officers, restricting access at sensitive locations, including schools, greater oversight of DHS detention facilities, clear identification for agents, and compliance with existing law to not deport or detain U.S. citizens.
In the House, Democrats introduced a discharge petition this week to try and force a vote on funding the agencies under DHS, including TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard, except for ICE and CBP. Reps. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, and Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, have signed on.
“All Speaker (Mike) Johnson needs to do is bring the legislation to the floor that will pay TSA agents and reopen the parts of the Department of Homeland Security that have nothing to do with ICE and have nothing to do with Trump’s extreme and violent mass deportation machine,” Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y, said during a press conference.
On the Senate floor, Democrats have also repeatedly pushed to pass funding for DHS agencies except for the immigration enforcement arms via unanimous consent. Senate Republicans have rejected it.
Instead, GOP senators have asked for unanimous support to fund DHS completely. Democrats have rejected those efforts.
The Senate is also moving swiftly to confirm Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Kristi Noem, as DHS Secretary. A Senate committee advanced his nomination Thursday morning. The full Senate could confirm Mullin next week.