1 of 5 | Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during a press conference after weekly Senate caucus luncheons in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and ahead of a funding deal made on Thursday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats have agreed to a deal that will avert a lengthy government shutdown and could be passed on Thursday.
The Senate might vote on the deal as it remained in session on Thursday night, and the federal government would shut down briefly over the weekend.
If approved in the Senate, the compromise budget measures would require the House to vote on the package before it goes to Trump for signing.
“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security,” the president said in a post on Truth Social early Thursday evening.
Trump said only a government shutdown could slow the nation’s economy and that he is “working hard with Congress” to fund the federal government and keep it open.
“Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed bipartisan ‘Yes’ vote,” he added.
The Senate earlier Thursday blocked the passage of a six-bill funding package as all Democrats and seven Republicans voted against the group of bills.
Senate Republican leader John Thune of North Dakota changed his vote to “no” so the package can be brought up for a later vote. The funding package failed 55-45.
Democrats and some Republicans demanded the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security to be separated from the package so that reforms could be added to the bill amid controversy over federal immigration law enforcement in Minnesota and elsewhere.
The agreement reached on Thursday does that, leaving a package of five bills that could be approved Thursday night or on Friday morning, according to The Hill.
A continuing resolution would keep Homeland Security funded at its current level until Feb. 13, while lawmakers debate its funding for the rest of the 2026 fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30.
The funding deal would cause several federal agencies to briefly lose funding as of 12:01 a.m. EST on Saturday, but most federal workers have the weekend off, so the funding lull would have a minimal impact.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York on Wednesday announced a list of reforms sought by Democrats.
The Senate needs all 100 to agree to split the funding package or else there will be a shutdown. If they make a deal, the packages would have to be approved by the House of Representatives. The deadline is midnight Friday.
The seven Republican senators who earlier voted against the measure were Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah, Ashley Moody of Florida, Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
Paul usually votes against motions to move spending bills, The Hill reported. He has spoken out about the killing of Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti and has said that DHS should create a commission to investigate the incident.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who had said he’d vote for the six-bill package, voted against it.
Schumer promised that if Thune splits the DHS funding bill from the rest, Democrats would pass the other five spending bills by the Friday deadline.
“Under President [Donald] Trump, Secretary [Kristi] Noem and [White House chief of staff] Stephen Miller, [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has been unleashed without guardrails,” Schumer said.
“They violate constitutional rights all the time and deliberately refuse to coordinate with state and local law enforcement,” he added.
The House of Representatives passed the funding measures on Jan. 22, but that was before the killing of Pretti on Jan. 24 at the hands of two Border Patrol agents. The two agents have since been put on leave.
“After talking with my caucus, Senate Democrats are united on a set of common-sense and necessary policy goals that we need to rein in [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the violence,” Schumer said.
“I hate shutdowns. I’m one of the people who helped negotiate the solution to the end of the last shutdown, but I can’t vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under these circumstances,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told CBS’s Face the Nation.
For the past week, ICE has been working in his state under Operation Catch of the Day, but Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced Thursday that the operation has ended.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, earlier said several Republican Senators are willing to separate the DHS bill, though he didn’t vote with the Democrats.
“I think the Democrats don’t want to vote for a Homeland Security bill,” he told reporters. “If that’s the case, then what are our choices? To throw out all the bills? Or one?
“I think a rational person would say let’s pass what we can and work on the others,” Kennedy said.
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House after arriving on Marine One on Tuesday. Trump threw his support behind a legislative proposal that would expand sales of higher-ethanol E15 gasoline as he looked to build support for his economic record with a rally in Iowa. Photo by Kent Nishimura/UPI | License Photo
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