Possible deal on Homeland Security shutdown
Senators expressed new optimism Monday night that they’re near a deal to end the month-old partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, media report.
The potential breakthrough came after a meeting at the White House between President Trump and a group of GOP senators earlier in the evening.
Proceeding with the arrangement with Trump’s support would be a U-turn for Trump from just 24 hours earlier, when he insisted that DHS could be funded only if Democrats agreed to pass the SAVE America voting act alongside it. Trump also over the weekend had shot down a plan backed by Senate conservatives to pursue a reconciliation bill for immigration enforcement money.
The pressure is on because if Congress were to leave at the end of this week for a scheduled two-week recess without a deal, TSA workers would miss more than a month of paychecks. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has indicated he could keep the Senate in session until lawmakers reach a deal.
The deal under discussion would restore funding for all of DHS except the arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that carries out immigrant arrests and deportations, called Enforcement and Removal Operations, Democratic senators told The Wall Street Journal.
Under the package being floated, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations component — which probes complex international crimes — would be funded, along with Customs and Border Protection. But there would be new guardrails to put officers from those divisions in their traditional roles, rather than as they’ve been used more recently in immigration roundups in cities, says The Associated Press.
The deal would include a number of changes in immigration operations that Democrats have demanded, such as mandating that officers wear body cameras and identification.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said that dropping ICE immigration enforcement funding was an important step toward reopening the other parts of DHS.
“The real issue here is the ICE and the ICE practices, you know, they were lawless, and what happened in Minneapolis is shocking. It can never happen again,” he said. “Let’s debate that, but let’s pay TSA. Let’s get relief funds out for [Federal Emergency Management Agency] folks. Let’s pay the Coast Guard.”
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del, said about the choices awaiting Democrats: “Column A … not another dime for ICE at all, and there’s no reform. Column No. 3, fully fund everything, bigger menu of reforms.”
The option negotiators are working on, he said, would be in the middle — some funding for enforcement agencies but with guardrails.
Democrats say they need to see the legislative language for the deal. “I think it’s trending well, but obviously we need to land the paperwork,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, a senior appropriator.
At the Monday meeting, the GOP senators appear to have convinced Trump that ICE funding could be gained separately through the partisan reconciliation process. But getting the votes for reconciliation could be especially difficult in the House, where Republicans have an even narrower margin than in the Senate, notes Roll Call.
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