Democrats block bill to reopen Homeland Security amid 27-day shutdown

Senate Democrats on Thursday defeated a motion to proceed to a House-passed bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security and end the 27-day shutdown that has hampered the functions of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other critical agencies.

The motion failed by a vote of 51 to 46. Centrist Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to advance the funding bill. It needed 60 votes to advance.

It marked the fourth time since Feb. 12 that Democrats have voted to block Homeland Security funding legislation.

The vote capped a day of skirmishes on the Senate floor between Democrats and Republicans on how to break the funding deadlock.

Democrats voted against the Homeland Security appropriations bill because it includes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), two agencies they say need reforms after immigration agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

“We all know that we do not have agreement on how to deal with ICE. We know very simply that Democrats just want ICE to behave like any police department in America and use warrants and not wear masks,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said before the vote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) accused Democrats of stonewalling White House negotiators over their latest offer to make some reforms to immigration enforcement to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.

“There have been offers made repeatedly, the most recent of which was 13 days ago,” Thune said on the floor.

He proposed during an impromptu floor discussion with Schumer that the Senate pass a short-term funding resolution to reopen all of Homeland Security’s operations.

“I would support a resolution, which will be offered, to fund not just TSA but Coast Guard, cybersecurity, CISA, FEMA, other agencies and departments of our government that are essential not only to national security and homeland security but to make sure people can move through our airports … that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has the ability to respond to disasters,” Thune said on the floor.

Schumer countered with a proposal to fund just TSA to ease congestion at airports.

When Thune dismissed the offer, Schumer responded: “I rest my case. What the [GOP] leader is saying is he will only fund TSA if we will continue to fund for a short time, for a long time, ICE and Border Patrol, which he knows is gridlocked.”

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) took to the Senate floor at lunchtime to offer a proposal to pass a bill to fund TSA by unanimous consent, but Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno (R) objected.

Moreno argued that Rosen’s proposal would leave federal workers at other critical agencies without funding.

“How about the Border Patrol guys and gals? How about customs? How about CISA? How about FEMA? How about the Coast Guard? Are we saying we’re going to penalize all of them? Why would we do that?” Moreno said.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) rose on the floor to propose that the Senate pass by unanimous consent a bill to reopen and fund the Coast Guard.

“On the average day, the Coast Guard saves 12 lives, interdicts 1,250 pounds of cocaine, screens 3,000 vessels,” he said. “This motion I will make will allow the Coast Guard to be paid for the rest of the year.”

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) then took to the floor to rebut Murphy’s arguments, asserting that Democrats have repeatedly blocked Coast Guard funding by holding up funding for the entire Homeland Security Department since mid-February.

“Here we are again, with political gamesmanship and grandstanding for some clip to show that you want to fund the Coast Guard. Meanwhile, you voted against the Coast Guard,” he said. “The Democrats do not want to fund the Coast Guard because they’re hell-bent on defunding ICE.”

California Sens. Alex Padilla (D) and Adam Schiff (D) later offered a unanimous consent request to fund the Federal Emergency Management Agency but that was also met with a Republican objection.

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