US Govt Shutdown Looms As Democrats Vow to Block Funding Over Minneapolis ICE Killings
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer vowed to block a massive spending package next week unless Republicans strip funding for the Department of Homeland Security, dramatically increasing the risk for a partial US government shutdown.
Schumer’s announcement came on the same day that a Border Patrol agent shot and killed an American intensive care unit nurse in Minnesota during protests over the immigration crackdown in that state. The man was identified by state and local officials as Alex Pretti.
Democratic opposition to the funding package potentially affects not just Homeland Security but also the departments of Defense, Labor, Education, State, Treasury and Health and Human Services.
The effects would be widespread, including possibly delaying the next Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
In the event of a shutdown, many essential workers – including the military and Transportation Security Administration agents – may have to work without pay. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol employees would likely be paid through additional funding in President Donald Trump’s tax bill signed last year.
The House passed the bill Thursday and left Washington until after the Jan. 30 shutdown deadline. Any changes to that legislation, including stripping Homeland funding, would require the House to return and vote on the new bill.
With the White House calling Pretti a “domestic terrorist” for impeding the work of Border Patrol, Senate Republican leaders will be under enormous pressure to protect DHS funding. The office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The spending legislation needs votes from at least seven Democrats to pass the Senate.
Several moderates in the party quickly announced Saturday they’d oppose the bill. Schumer said later the party would not lend their votes to the measure as it is currently drafted.
The federal presence in Minnesota has led to the shooting death of at least one other American, Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE officer when he stopped her for partly blocking a street with her car, claiming she tried to run him over. Federal agents have used tear gas and other violent crowd-control techniques to quell the protests, but their actions have only made residents more angry.
“What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling -and unacceptable in any American city,” Schumer said. “Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE.”
ALSO READ: Explained: What Happens After The US Government Shuts Down?
Forcing a shutdown risks hard-fought Democratic victories in the spending deal, including reversing many Trump cuts to medical research, foreign aid, education grants and mass transit.
The situation in Minnesota, however, with thousands of federal agents sent to the state and two people now killed, has alienated key Democratic senators, including some who provided key votes to end that shutdown.
Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, each of whom voted to end the last shutdown, said in statements Saturday they would oppose funding for Homeland Security without changes. Rosen insisted she will oppose funding “until we have guardrails in place to curtail these abuses of power and ensure more accountability and transparency.”
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said the resistance isn’t about his party.
“It’s about our country and our Congress, and what we need to do to impose some safeguards on an out-of-control agency which is imbued with a culture of lawlessness and seems to be committing murder in Minneapolis,” Blumenthal said.
The Senate, a slow-moving legislative body, already faces potential delays from an expected snowstorm. The House’s planned absence next week complicates matters further ahead of the Jan. 30 funding deadline.
All but seven House Democrats voted against the DHS bill in the House, with many in the party seeking body camera requirements and other restraints on raids by ICE and Border Patrol agents.
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