Senate Approves Budget Extending Homeland Security Funding for Two Weeks

The Senate took action on Friday night, approving the federal budget while leaving one key player out: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS received a two-week funding extension to allow for negotiations on new regulations concerning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). If an agreement isn’t reached, DHS funding will run out, leading to a potential shutdown.

This decision came after intense discussions among Senate Democrats, their Republican colleagues, and the White House, resulting in a vote of 71-29. However, DHS will remain without funding over the weekend until the House of Representatives reconvenes on Monday to pass the new stopgap measure.

This marks a significant shift for the DHS funding bill, which was initially expected to pass with some support from moderate Democrats, despite strong opposition to continued funding for ICE. Following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents during a protest in Minneapolis, Senate Democrats unanimously declared they would not support further funding for DHS without substantial reforms to ICE, pushing the Trump administration into negotiations to keep the government running. This situation could have led to the second government shutdown in under a year.

Despite the usual divisions within the Democratic caucus, the political climate favored their stance. A poll from a Democratic-aligned group indicated that a majority of voters supported the Democrats’ push for a partial shutdown over ICE reforms, and they would likely hold Republicans responsible if the government remained closed.