Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York holds a press conference at the Capitol in Washington on Thursday after lawmakers failed to reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
The Department of Homeland Security will shut down indefinitely at 12:01 a.m. EST Saturday after Senate Democrats opposed a bipartisan fiscal year 2026 budget .
Congress is taking a weeklong break next week, so no action is likely until at least Feb. 23.
While Congress is on break, some congressional lawmakers are planning to attend a security conference in Munich, Germany, while most others are returning to their home districts for the week.
“We are not even going to pretend that we are trying to figure it out,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told The New York Times.
She is among the federal lawmakers who are expected to make the trip to Munich next week.
“It doesn’t look great,” Murkowski said of the apparent ease with which the Senate allowed the pending shutdown to occur without doing more to overcome their differences.
The Senate voted 52-47 in favor of the department’s House-approved funding on Thursday, but the measure required 60 votes to overcome the Senate filibuster rule. Instead of returning for another go on Friday, lawmakers left the Capital.
The only Senate Democrat to support the department’s funding was Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota changed his vote to “no” to make it possible for the measure to be reconsidered quickly when the Senate resumes session.
Congressional Democrats have called for defunding the department after the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement surge in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January.
They are demanding that all immigration enforcement officers end broad sweeps, wear body cameras, remove their masks and use more judicial warrants instead of administrative warrants when undertaking targeted arrests, among other demands.
Border czar Tom Homan on Thursday said the surge has ended and most of the federal officers are leaving Minneapolis.
ICE and Customs and Border Protection will remain on duty amid the pending shutdown due to receiving three years of full funding in the recently One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, but Homeland Security’s remaining funding ends Friday.
The Department of Homeland Security shutdown affects the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Science and Technology Directorate, Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes visa applications.
It also affects the Coast Guard, Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump speaks alongside Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Thursday. The Trump administration has announced the finalization of rules that revoke the EPA’s ability to regulate climate pollution by ending the endangerment finding that determined six greenhouse gases could be categorized as dangerous to human health. Photo by Will Oliver/UPI | License Photo
