Senate searches for end to DHS shutdown after deal stalls

President Trump floated ending the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to reopen DHS, asking, “When is ‘enough, enough’ for our Republican Senators.”

“There comes a time when you must do what should have been done a long time ago, and something which the Lunatic Democrats will do on day one, if they ever get the chance,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, and get our airports, and everything else, moving again.”

The president urged the Senate to also add the SAVE America Act, an election bill he has repeatedly pushed Congress to pass. Earlier this week, he threw a wrench into DHS talks when he told Republicans not to make a deal with Democrats and to instead link the elections bill to DHS funding. 

Thune has repeatedly said there isn’t support for ending the filibuster within the GOP conference.

The president claimed in another post that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “will make a deal now because he thinks that if he doesn’t, Republicans will TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, something which they should do whether he makes a deal or not!!!”

The Senate is scheduled to be on recess for two weeks starting next week. But Thune has kept the door open to keeping the chamber in town if the impasse persists.

The majority leader told reporters as the Senate convened Wednesday that no decisions had been made yet on whether senators would stay in town if they’re unable to reach a deal. 

“I think it’s awfully hard not to have the government funded if we’re not here,” Thune said. 

Later Wednesday, Thune suggested that the deadline could put pressure on senators, who often leave town on Thursday nights, to reach a deal. 

“You know how it is around here. It’s not Thursday yet,” Thune said. “And sometimes you’ve got to let things run. We’ll see where the deal might land.”

The Senate is set to vote Thursday afternoon on advancing a DHS funding measure. The motion fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to succeed on Wednesday for the sixth time. 

It was the first time the chamber took the vote with the promise of the GOP offer, which would amend the measure funding all of DHS by stripping out the funds for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division. Just one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted in favor of moving forward. But Republicans are hoping to peel off more support on Thursday. 

Republicans quickly rejected Democrats’ counterproposal to fund the government and secure ICE reforms like boosting training standards and requiring immigration officers to wear identification on Wednesday. They criticized the offer as unserious, arguing that if Democrats refuse to fund ICE, they don’t have grounds to seek reforms to the agency. 

Democrats see things differently. 

Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who struck a deal with Republicans to end the last shutdown, outlined that ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division and Customs and Border Protection would be funded under the GOP offer. He claimed that “right now, most of HSI is in ICE doing ERO work.”

“It’s an illusory solution, if they can man ICE with people from … CBP and HSI,” King said. “I don’t have any problem with HSI and CBP doing their jobs. But not if they’re doing ICE’s job.”

Despite the GOP pushback on Democrats’ effort to secure reforms, Thune suggested later in the day that there is some room for negotiation, saying if Democrats “get a more realistic set of proposals, or a more realistic offer on the table, then we’ll be back in business.”

The majority leader also didn’t rule out the possibility of a short-term measure to fund the government while conversations continue on a long-term solution.