Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said “discussions have been very positive and productive” toward funding the Department of Homeland Security. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump is willing to accept a Homeland Security funding plan that excludes funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, unnamed White House officials told media outlets Tuesday.
The plan includes using reconciliation to get the ICE funding and parts of the SAVE Act, which would allow it to pass without votes from Democrats, the sources told The Hill.
“Conversations are still ongoing, but at this point this seems to be an acceptable solution,” a White House official told NewsNation.
“All I can say is that the discussions have been very positive and productive, and hopefully headed in the right direction,” said Senate Republican leader John Thune, R-S.D., late Monday.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also seemed hopeful: “Both sides are working in a serious way.”
The department has been shut down since Feb. 14 as Democrats and Republicans battle over a funding bill. Democrats don’t want to fund the department without putting some restrictions on ICE enforcement, and Republicans have agreed to some measures but not the ones on which Democrats insist.
Because of this, Transportation Security Administration workers have been working without pay for more than a month. Some are quitting or taking days off work, creating long lines at airports. Trump has sent ICE agents to some airports to help TSA agents.
Trump has said as recently as Monday that he will not pass any legislation until the SAVE Act is passed.
Republican senators told Trump on Monday that they would work on another bill to fund ICE, and they would push it through with budget reconciliation, two people, who were granted anonymity, told The New York Times. Reconciliation will allow the Senate to pass the bill with a simple majority — 51 votes — rather than the usual 60-vote supermajority needed to stop a filibuster.
ICE has continued to operate during the shutdown because of the large budget it was given last year under Trump’s funding bill.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she has become “more optimistic that by the end of the week we will fund the Department of Homeland Security.”
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Monday that he needed to see the bill before deciding.
“I want to see exactly what that means and how it’s — what the language is,” he said. “And there may be some negotiation on exactly how to define that, but I’m just waiting. As I say, the first step is to see the actual deal.”
The House Freedom Caucus, which is ultraconservative, said the plan was likely to fail. “This is gaslighting,” the caucus said in a social media post on Tuesday. “The American people are not stupid and will not accept more failure theater from Republicans in Congress.”
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump presents the Commander in Chief’s Trophy to the Navy Midshipmen football team during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Friday. The award is presented annually to the winner of the football competition between the Navy, Air Force and Army. Navy has won the trophy back to back years and 13 times over the last 23 years. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
