Senate Democrats Block Bill To Fund All of DHS Except for ICE

Senate Democrats have blocked a bill to reopen all of the Department of Homeland Security except for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, saying that funding the other immigration enforcement agencies would not lead to real reforms. They are asking Republicans to commit to a number of other restrictions on agents’ actions — something that GOP leadership says will not be happening. The optimism that shone through the Capitol Hill on Monday night and Tuesday morning is largely gone now. Senator John Thune and other lawmakers had convinced President Trump to agree to a funding bill for DHS except for ICE, which could then be dealt with through a different legislative process. Democrats, however, were quick to refuse that offer even after Mr. Trump was on board. On Wednesday evening, the Senate voted 54 to 46 to proceed to the funding bill, falling short of the chamber’s 60-vote threshold for ending debate. Only one Democrat, Senator John Fetterman, joined with Republicans to reopen the department. “This body, that’s charged with a simple job, which is the power of the purse to appropriate money to fund the government — we have failed,” Senator Bernie Moreno said on the floor after the vote failed. He urged both Democrats and Republicans to “eat our own dog food” by swallowing things that neither side likes in order to come to an agreement. “Why don’t we just get together and deputize one or two people on your side, deputize one or two people on outside, and let’s just get this done,” Mr. Moreno said, shrugging. “I actually hope that we have the moral character in our heart that it’s just wrong not to pay 260,000 people.”Democrats and Republicans alike have complained that the other side is not negotiating expeditiously, or possibly not even doing so in good faith. After Senator Chuck Schumer shut the door on Mr. Thune’s offer to fund everything but ICE, Democrats sent a list of demands to Republicans for additional reforms at all immigration enforcement agencies at DHS. Mr. Thune quickly accused Democrats of not being serious, telling reporters on Wednesday that there was “no point” in responding to them. “This is retreading ground that we’ve been treading for weeks,” he said. “A lot of these reforms that have been proposed, they walked away from.”“At some point they got to get real,” he said. Mr. Thune says Senate Republicans will not accept a requirement that judicial warrants be used in every deportation proceeding, and that they would not accept a requirement that all immigration agents not wear masks. Tens of millions of Americans are now acutely feeling the pain of this shutdown, with TSA security lines stretching as far back as parking garages in airports across the country. According to TSA, more than 10 percent of all TSA agents called out of work on Tuesday, while hundreds more have quit their jobs altogether. The next pay day for TSA agents is scheduled to be on Friday, though with Republicans and Democrats at a stalemate in the Senate, it appears that airport security lines are set to grow even longer. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned last weekend that many more TSA agents will quit if this coming paycheck is not delivered, which seems increasingly likely as senators remain far apart on a deal and House members are due to leave town Thursday night. “They’re gonna take other jobs to put food on the table and pay their rent, so I do think it’s gonna get much worse,” Mr. Duffy said Sunday.

Senate Democrats Block Bill To Fund All of DHS Except for ICE

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