Washington — Senate talks aimed at ending the 38-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security hit a new roadblock on Monday after President Trump called on Republicans to hold out for passage of an elections bill that Democrats strongly oppose.
“I’m suggesting strongly to the Republican Party, don’t make any deal on anything,” Mr. Trump said. “The most important thing we can have is called the SAVE America Act.”
The SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot, has already been a headache for Senate Republicans. The chamber has been debating the measure for nearly a week in an attempt to placate conservatives who have demanded that the Senate maneuver around a 60-vote threshold to pass the bill. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been clear that the votes aren’t there.
Speaking at an event in Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday, Mr. Trump said the SAVE America Act’s voter ID and proof of citizenship provisions should be “welded in” to DHS funding.
“I’m requesting that the Republican senators do that immediately,” Mr. Trump said. “You don’t have to take a fast vote, don’t worry about Easter, going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus.”
The Senate is scheduled to leave for a two-week recess at the end of the week. But Thune has suggested the chamber could stay in town until the shutdown is resolved.
Tepid optimism began to emerge among senators late last week that a deal could be possible, with acknowledgement that the two sides still had significant ground to cover. A bipartisan group of senators met Thursday and Friday with border czar Tom Homan. The meetings marked a key step forward as the two sides expressed more willingness to engage. But the weekend showed little progress.
As the chamber reconvened Monday, Thune told CBS News that the president’s request to link the DHS funding to the election legislation was a “wrinkle” in the talks. He outlined to reporters that despite widespread GOP support for the SAVE America Act, the idea that the Senate would have to guarantee the bill’s passage to reopen the government isn’t “realistic.” He said discussions continue over DHS funding.
The ramp-up in talks came as the DHS shutdown began wreaking havoc at some airports. As TSA workers continue to go without pay, staffing issues have worsened, creating long security lines and prompting the administration to send ICE agents to more than a dozen locations to help ease the burden. While Democrats have opposed funding immigration enforcement, they have repeatedly offered to approve funding for TSA and the other agencies that DHS oversees.
Some Republicans have appeared to come around to the idea of funding non-ICE components of DHS in recent days, including Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana. Kennedy told CBS News on Sunday that “we ought to accept the Democrats’ offer to open everything up but ICE,” before turning to the budget reconciliation process to fund the immigration enforcement agency without help from Democrats. He said “a lot of people are talking about it, but the only person that counts is our majority leader.”
Thune expressed openness to the idea Sunday as well, telling reporters that “there are lots of ideas swirling right now.” He added on Monday that it would be an option and “we aren’t taking any options off the table.”
The majority leader and the president spoke about the possible offramp on Sunday. But Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday evening that Republicans shouldn’t make a deal with Democrats unless they work with the GOP to pass the elections legislation.
Democrats have warned that the White House must get serious on negotiations. They refused to sit down with Senate Republicans for weeks, saying the White House could dash any agreement that may be reached.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the president for “trying to sabotage negotiations” on Monday. He said “Democrats are going to keep working in good faith.”
“Both sides talked all weekend long. We had some constructive conversations, but there’s considerably more work to be done, and Democrats are ready to keep negotiating,” Schumer said.
The New York Democrat said his caucus’ position “has not changed,” and that they want to pay TSA workers and meet with the White House to continue talks. He said they were going to meet Monday morning with Homan, but “apparently the White House pulled that meeting because of Donald Trump’s temper tantrum.”
“We hope that Donald Trump will stop derailing these talks and let negotiations continue,” Schumer said.
