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Senate Leaders Scramble to Save Deal 01/30 06:12
Senate leaders were scrambling to save a bipartisan spending deal and avert
a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday as Democrats have demanded new
restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate leaders were scrambling to save a bipartisan
spending deal and avert a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday as
Democrats have demanded new restrictions on federal immigration raids across
the country.
Democrats struck a rare deal with President Donald Trump Thursday to
separate funding for the Homeland Security Department from a broad government
spending bill and fund it for two weeks while Congress debates curbs on the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The deal came as irate
Democrats had vowed to vote against the entire spending bill and trigger a
shutdown in the wake of the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal
agents in Minneapolis.
"Republicans and Democrats have come together to get the vast majority of
the government funded until September" while extending current funding for
Homeland Security, Trump said in a social media post Thursday evening. He
encouraged members of both parties to cast a "much needed Bipartisan 'YES'
vote."
Trump had said earlier in the day that "we don't want a shutdown."
Still, passage of the agreement was delayed late Thursday as Senate leaders
were still working to win enough support for the package.
Leaving the Capitol just before midnight Thursday after hours of
negotiations, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said there were "snags on both
sides" as he and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer tried to work through any
objections that could delay passage past the Friday deadline.
"Hopefully people will be of the spirit to try and get this done tomorrow,"
Thune said as the Senate was scheduled to reconvene on Friday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said late Thursday that he was one of the
senators objecting. He said ICE agents were being treated unfairly and he
opposed House language repealing a new law that gives senators the ability to
sue the government for millions of dollars if their personal or office data is
accessed without their knowledge.
Rare bipartisan talks
The unusual bipartisan talks between Trump and Schumer, his frequent
adversary, came after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in
Minnesota over the weekend and calls by senators in both parties for a full
investigation. Schumer called it "a moment of truth."
"What ICE is doing, outside the law, is state-sanctioned thuggery and it
must stop," Schumer said Thursday. "Congress has the authority -- and the moral
obligation -- to act."
The standoff has threatened to plunge the country into another shutdown,
just two months after Democrats blocked a spending bill over expiring federal
health care subsidies. That dispute closed the government for 43 days as
Republicans refused to negotiate.
That shutdown ended when a small group of moderate Democrats broke away to
strike a deal with Republicans, but Democrats are more unified this time after
the fatal shootings of Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents.
Republicans were more willing to make a deal, as well, as several of them
said they were open to new restrictions after the two fatal shootings.
Democrats lay out demands
Democrats have laid out several demands, asking the White House to "end
roving patrols" in cities and coordinate with local law enforcement on
immigration arrests, including requiring tighter rules for warrants.
They also want an enforceable code of conduct so agents are held accountable
when they violate rules. Schumer said agents should be required to have "masks
off, body cameras on" and carry proper identification, as is common practice in
most law enforcement agencies.
Earlier on Thursday, Tom Homan, the president's border czar, stated during a
press conference in Minneapolis that federal immigration officials are
developing a plan to reduce the number of agents in Minnesota, but this would
depend on cooperation from state authorities.
Still far apart on policy
If the deal moves forward, negotiations down the road on a final agreement
on the Homeland Security bill are likely to be difficult.
Democrats want Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown to end. "If the
Trump administration resists reforms, we shut down the agency," said
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
But Republicans are unlikely to agree to all of the Democrats' demands.
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said he is opposed to requiring immigration
enforcement officers to show their faces, even as he blamed Homeland Security
Secretary Kristi Noem for decisions that he said are "tarnishing" the agency's
reputation.
"You know, there's a lot of vicious people out there, and they'll take a
picture of your face, and the next thing you know, your children or your wife
or your husband are being threatened at home," Tillis said.
Graham said some of the Democratic proposals "make sense," such as better
training and body cameras. Still, he said he was putting his Senate colleagues
"on notice" that if Democrats try to make changes to the funding bill, he would
insist on new language preventing local governments from resisting the Trump
administration's immigration policies.
"I think the best legislative solution for our country would be to adopt
some of these reforms to ICE and Border Patrol," Graham posted on X. But he
said that the bill should also end so-called "sanctuary city" policies.
Uncertainty in the House
Across the Capitol, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told The Associated Press
on Thursday that he had been "vehemently opposed" to breaking up the funding
package, but "if it is broken up, we will have to move it as quickly as
possible. We can't have the government shut down."
On Thursday evening, at a premiere of a movie about first lady Melania Trump
at the Kennedy Center, Johnson said he might have some "tough decisions" to
make about when to bring the House back to Washington to approve the bills
separated by the Senate, if they pass.
"We'll see what they do," Johnson said.
House Republicans have said they do not want any changes to the bill they
passed last week. In a letter to Trump on Tuesday, the conservative House
Freedom Caucus wrote that its members stand with the Republican president and
ICE.
"The package will not come back through the House without funding for the
Department of Homeland Security," they wrote.
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