WASHINGTON — The White House and Senate Democrats have reached a deal to fund the government ahead of today’s midnight deadline.
Senators hope to vote on the modified spending package today. President Donald Trump endorsed the plan Thursday night that would temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security and approve the five other full-year spending bills.
“Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote,” Trump said on Truth Social.
After the fatal shootings in Minneapolis by federal officers, Democrats demanded more constraints on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. The agreement will provide two-weeks of funding for DHS while lawmakers negotiate the specifics of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement reforms.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Thursday a “moment of truth” on how Congress would respond to the killings in Minnesota.
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala, the chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, told Alabama Daily News Thursday morning that she was open to securing a “pathway” to “get these bills done” while continuing “to review” the Homeland Security bill. Lawmakers are eager to avoid a partial shutdown that would impact large swaths of the federal government.
The legislation will have to go back to the House, where the bills are expected to face a rocky path. House members are scheduled to return to Washington Monday, making a funding lapse likely over the weekend while lawmakers travel back to the Capitol. But any impacts from a partial shutdown would be minimal if the House can pass the modified spending package immediately upon its return.
But hardline conservatives have already voiced strong opposition to changing the package and implementing a short-term bill for DHS.
“We cannot support giving Democrats the ability to control the funding of our Department of Homeland Security,” the House Freedom Caucus wrote to Trump earlier this week.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told The Associated Press that he was “vehemently opposed” to breaking off the DHS bill from the package, but “if it is broken up, we will have to move it as quickly as possible. We can’t have the government shut down.”
The White House and lawmakers spent most of Thursday negotiating the length of the short-term funding patch for Homeland Security. Democrats pushed for a shorter time frame to ensure the pressure to restrict ICE operations remained high. Republicans urged that the continuing resolution for DHS last longer to allow more time for discussions.
On Thursday afternoon, Senate Democrats blocked the six-bill spending package from advancing without modifications. Seven Republicans also opposed it, including Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. Britt supported advancing it.
Tuberville said he opposed the package during the procedural vote because he did not support separating the DHS bill from the other five.
“It makes no sense because DHS has already been funded for the next four years (for $75) billion,” he told ADN, referring to the money allocated to ICE in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Alabama’s senior senator added that the legislation included “a lot of things” that he “didn’t agree with.”
For Tuberville, those include earmarks for blue states, funding for non-governmental organizations and the “kill switch” Biden-era rule that will require new vehicles to shut off if they detect drunk driving. Alabama’s House Republicans all voted in favor of an amendment to strip that provision from the package, but it failed in the House.
On Wednesday, Tuberville told ADN that the situation in Minneapolis was a “disaster” and a “no-win situation.” He also said that he supported an investigation into the killing of Alex Pretti. Britt called for a “fair and impartial” investigation into the shooting on Monday.
“…anytime there’s a shooting of an American citizen or a police officer, there should be an independent investigation with nobody involved other than somebody that has no skin in the game and (can) find out exactly what happened,” Tuberville said.
The five bills, which have now been separated from the Homeland Security bill, provide funding for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, among other agencies, through September.
Once Congress approves this new deal, lawmakers will have to confront the thorny issue of finding a compromise on how to fund DHS within two weeks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.