With the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by a federal agent, the likelihood of a partial government shutdown grew as Congress approaches its Friday funding deadline.
Senate Democrats, including Connecticut’s two U.S. senators, are mostly unified against new funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
They want to revise the DHS bill and separate it from a package that funds other government agencies as a way to avoid a shutdown. Republicans are in the majority and would need to make that decision.
Democrats in Congress were already skeptical of more funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7 by an ICE officer. But resistance to the DHS funding bill solidified after the shooting of Alex Pretti, who was protesting ICE activity in Minneapolis over the weekend.
Ongoing tensions with ICE, on top of the snow storm, are complicating the passage of the funding bills. Senate votes were delayed a day and lawmakers aren’t expected to get to the package until later in the week, right before the Jan. 30 deadline. Plus, any changes to legislation made by the Senate would need approval by the House, which is currently out of session through the end of the week.
While Republicans control the Senate, Democratic votes are still needed to advance most legislation. Lawmakers must reach a 60-vote threshold, meaning Republicans typically need at least seven Democrats to move it toward final passage. But with all GOP senators unlikely to support it, even more support is needed from Democrats.
During negotiations in recent weeks, congressional Democrats were pushing for more reforms to ICE in any compromise funding bill for DHS. Many were disappointed by the final product and acknowledged the bill fell short of their party’s broader demands.
As things stand, Senate GOP leadership doesn’t plan to uncouple the DHS bill from the other five government funding bills, which have wide support. If the Homeland Security funding remains in the package and unchanged, Democrats maintain that senators shouldn’t support it — even with the risks of a partial shutdown.
“We shouldn’t let Republicans bully us again into funding a lawless administration,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said in an interview with the Connecticut Mirror prior to the shooting of Pretti over the weekend. “It’s Republicans’ choice to put in front of the Senate a bill that combines DHS funding with other agencies. They’re putting those other agencies at risk by not doing what the House did, having a separate vote on DHS.”
What’s different this time
The possibility of a partial shutdown comes about two months after a record-long closure of the federal government in the fall that lasted for 43 days.
A potential funding lapse this time around would affect a smaller portion of the government since a handful agencies already got their funding approved. And unlike last time, there would be no effect on federal nutrition assistance since the agency that oversees SNAP benefits secured its funding through the end of fiscal year as part of the deal last year to end the government shutdown.
But the remaining agencies that need new full-year funding cover the vast majority of the government’s discretionary spending and would still have some major implications. It would again lead to furloughs of some federal employees in the six government agencies where funding runs out after Jan. 30.
Congress must pass 12 appropriations bills to fund the federal government for fiscal year 2026. The House completed its work last week. Connecticut’s congressional delegation joined most House Democrats in opposing the bill that funds Homeland Security. But in a separate vote that same day, all five members voted for a funding package with the final three bills.
Now, it’s the Senate’ turn to vote on the last six bills, which are all packaged together.
In addition to DHS, the rest of the final package includes funding through the end of September for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education; Defense; Transportation and Housing and Urban Development; and the State Department.
Outside of ICE and Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security also oversees TSA, FEMA and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Since returning to Washington after the holidays, congressional appropriators responsible for drafting and negotiating government funding bills made steady progress on releasing bill text and passing smaller packages with full-year funding for fiscal year 2026. Congress appeared on track to meet Friday’s deadline.
But after the weekend shooting, the Senate Democratic caucus appears in alignment that they can’t accept the current version of the DHS bill. That included those who have been vocally opposed, key members of leadership, appropriators who negotiated the bill and Democrats who voted for the deal that ended the 43-day shutdown in the fall.
Murphy has been strongly opposed to the bill since it was released. And his trip last week to south Texas to learn more about ICE’s enforcement and detainments provided “more evidence of how critical this moment is and how DHS does not deserve to be funded without reforms,” he said.
Murphy, who is the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, said he can’t support funding for DHS without reforms. Some of those demands that didn’t make it into the final bill included preventing U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents from being moved off the border and into the interior, requiring warrants for certain arrests and protocol around mandatory training.
“I just don’t think we will be perceived as credible if we vote to fund DHS’ illegality and abuse for the rest of the year while talking like it’s a moral and legal crisis,” Murphy said.
Murphy said Minneapolis isn’t the only place facing abuses by ICE and other federal agents.
“They are violating the law all over the country. This is a nationwide campaign of lawlessness,” Murphy said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We cannot fund a Department of Homeland Security that is murdering American citizens, that is traumatizing little boys and girls all across the country in violation of the law.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., echoed those sentiments and said he would also oppose the Homeland Security bill.
“I’m a NO on DHS funding without strict restraints & comprehensive reforms to stop lawless, lethal violence led from the top. Americans are rightly terrified & outraged by the illegal brutality — police state tactics — we’re watching in real time. It must be stopped,” Blumenthal said in a post on X following the fatal shooting in Minneapolis.
“A government shutdown can be readily avoided by splitting the DHS appropriations from other funding measures, as was done in the House. Democrats have a consensus. Republicans should listen to America,” Blumenthal continued.
Even without new funding, ICE received an additional $75 billion allocated over four years in Republicans’ “big beautiful bill” for expanding the agency’s detention capacity and hiring more officers. DHS has been arguing in court filings and to members of Congress showing up to tour detention centers that it is largely operating on money from the special budget reconciliation bill and not through the full-year appropriations laws that Congress seeks to pass through its normal process.
But the Senate is in a much different situation than the House. Senators won’t get the same leeway to vote down the DHS bill but support the rest of the funding measures unless GOP leaders make a change.
“Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement.
As of now, Senate Republican leadership doesn’t plan to detach DHS from the overall legislation and is proceeding with the existing framework.
It is also unclear if Republicans would support adding in additional reforms to ICE. Some have called for a full investigation into the fatal shootings of Pretti and Good, but reiterated their support of the Trump administration’s enforcement actions and the federal agency itself.
“At this point, the White House supports the bipartisan work that was done to advance the bipartisan appropriations package, and we want to see that passed,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Monday’s briefing.
The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
