‘You can cry about it’: Tempers flare in Senate as DHS shutdown debate erupts, stalemate digs deeper

The Senate floor erupted Wednesday as Republicans and Democrats sparred over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with one point becoming clear: neither side was close to reaching a deal.

While senators met behind closed doors just steps from the chamber, party leaders accused each other of refusing to negotiate over reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the key sticking point in the standoff.

“You can cry about it. You can whine about it. You lost an election over it,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said. “The White House has dealt with you in good faith. You want to prolong this until you get another incident, while your activists are on the street confronting ICE agents in sanctuary jurisdictions, hoping they get some viral moment.”

So far, Senate Republicans have delegated final say over any agreement to the White House, though the back and forth between both sides has slowed to a grinding halt.

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Republicans want DHS reopened in the short term, while negotiations over reforms to ICE continue. Democrats, meanwhile, have offered a funding proposal that would carve out immigration enforcement but reopen other key functions, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

At the center of the dispute is whether either side will agree to formal negotiations. Republicans say Democrats are ignoring their offers to meet, while Democrats contend they have not received an invitation.

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“We are here today, and we are trying to close a deal that would enable us to fund all the agencies that the Democrats say they want funded with reforms to ICE,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “And I’ve seen the offer sheet from the White House, and they have gone a lot farther, a lot farther than any Democrat I thought was even possible.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said their demands for reform are straightforward, though Republicans have drawn red lines against proposals that would require ICE agents to obtain judicial warrants and unmask their identities, citing concerns about doxxing.

“But the bottom line is they refused, probably because the right wing doesn’t like it,” Schumer said. “So then let’s fund everything else but ICE and Border Patrol.”

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The floor fight was ignited by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and her attempt to force a vote on a DHS spending bill that stripped out funding for ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

She argued that Democrats would not be “blackmailed” into funding immigration operations after the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, who were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minnesota.

“I am willing to talk to people, but I’m not willing to sit in a room, have coffee, give away a few things, and have Stephen Miller override whatever we all agreed to in a room,” Murray said.

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There has been little movement in the stalemate over DHS. The White House made its last offer nearly two weeks ago, and Democrats rejected it.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who was tapped by Thune to lead DHS negotiations for Senate Republicans, contended that Murray and Senate Democrats’ latest offer “would effectively defund our law enforcement.”

“Look, we’re not going back to the era of ‘defund the police,’” Britt said. “We’re not doing it.”