When the Senate returns from a weeklong recess, it will have just days to avoid a partial government shutdown.
The funding deal that ended the last government shutdown, the longest shutdown in American history, is set to expire on Jan. 30. The Senate has passed six of the 12 spending bills to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. The six that remain include Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD, Financial Services, National Security-State, and Homeland Security.
Senate leadership predicts that funding for Homeland Security will be the most difficult to pass because of Democrat opposition to ICE operations.
Senate Makes Progress
Before the Senate left Washington on Thursday afternoon, the upper chamber passed a three-bill spending package.
The Senate voted 82-15 on the package that combined the Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Energy-Water funding bills. The price tag for the three-bill package, which is now heading to President Donald Trump’s desk, is $180 billion.
As part of the deal to end the 2025 government shutdown and reopen the government, the Senate previously passed three of the appropriations bills, Agriculture, Military Construction-VA, and Legislative Branch, with funding through the end of the fiscal year.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., congratulated the members and the appropriations committee on the Senate floor on Thursday for their success so far. He noted that in 2025 the Senate was able to pass three single government funding bills before August, “through regular order, a process that gives all senators the opportunity to make their voices–and the voices of their constituents–heard,” said Thune.
Homeland is The Hardest
Since the ICE-involved shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota, Democrats are trying to leave out funding for the immigration agents from the DHS funding bill.
ICE increased operations in Minnesota after large-scale fraud was exposed at government-funded childcare centers.
“Homeland is obviously the hardest one,†Thune said. He suggested that a continuing resolution is a possible outcome if the parties can’t negotiate.
“We should not be limiting funding for homeland security in a dangerous time,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News. “We need officials to allow law enforcement to do their job,” Johnson continued.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has demanded “common sense measures” to be taken to assure immigration agents will conduct themselves, “in a manner that is at least consistent with every other law enforcement agency in the United States of America.â€
Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which boasts almost 100 members, has taken a more aggressive stance.
“Our caucus will oppose all funding for immigration enforcement in any appropriations bills until meaningful reforms are enacted to end militarized policing practices,†Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said during a press conference.
Some Republicans have been open to negotiations suggesting more training to be required for agents.
“The more training they could have, the better it’ll be, because they’re dealing with some strange stuff going on that’s coming at them in a lot of different directions,†said Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va.
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