The current funding patch for the Department of Homeland Security only lasts through Feb. 13.
WASHINGTON—Just one day before Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding lapses, the Senate has once again hit the brakes on legislation that would fund it through the end of September.
Fifty-two senators voted for a procedural step to advance a full-year spending bill—not enough to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold—while 47 senators opposed it.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) broke ranks with his party to support the measure. Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) switched his vote to a no to let him bring it up again.
The appropriations bill passed the House in January before it returned to the Senate ahead of a funding deadline at the end of that month.
A standoff over immigration law enforcement funding there, touched off in the aftermath of the shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis, triggered a partial government shutdown involving five other spending bills. That lapse continued until Feb. 3.
While the five other spending bills ultimately passed both chambers, DHS was funded through a short-term continuing resolution that is set to end on Feb. 13, giving lawmakers a small window to reach a deal.
That deadline comes just ahead of Presidents Day and scheduled breaks in the House and Senate next week.
Soon after that deal was announced, some lawmakers were already forecasting another lapse in funding.
“I think DHS is going to stay shut down for a while,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) predicted to reporters on Feb. 4.
The Senate has taken the lead in negotiations that have involved the White House.
Ahead of the vote on Feb. 12, Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on the Senate floor that the White House had sent Democrats “an extremely serious offer” on Feb. 11.
Democrats have generally been resistant to overtures from Republicans, hewing to a list of demands that include stepped-up warrant requirements for immigration law enforcement and a virtual end to the masking of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal agents.
After border czar Tom Homan announced on Feb. 12 that the administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota was ending, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggested that was not enough.
“Regardless of what Tom Homan says, ICE’s abuses cannot be solved merely through executive fiat alone,” Schumer said on the floor of the Senate.
With the fast deadline approaching, Thune said that “the onus is on Democrats” to agree to an additional funding patch.
