Senators reveal breakthrough talks to end five-week Department of Homeland Security shutdown

Senators in both parties expressed rising optimism late Monday about reaching an agreement to end the five-week partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which has increasingly snarled air travel across the United States.

After Republican senators met at the White House with President Donald Trump on Monday, Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, a key negotiator, said she thought they had a solution to the impasse. On the floor, she could be seen talking with members of both parties, including Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader.

Schumer said “both sides are working seriously” as he left the Capitol after a day that began when Trump soured the talks with demands that Republicans tie passage of the partisan SAVE America Act voting legislation to Homeland Security funding.
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The president’s demand was immediately dismissed as unserious by Democrats and unrealistic by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has repeatedly pointed out that the measure, which would require Americans to establish proof of citizenship to register to vote and to show identification when casting ballots, doesn’t have the votes needed to bypass a filibuster.

Lawmakers also told reporters that they had a sense of urgency to resolve the impasse, given that travellers continue to suffer through lengthy delays at major US airports waiting to go through security screenings. Employees of the Transportation Security Administration, which the Homeland Security Department oversees, haven’t been paid for weeks, prompting some to call in sick.

Democratic Senators Chris Coons of Delaware and Peter Welch of Vermont said their understanding was that the latest Republican offer in the works would not fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s removal operations, but would pay for the rest of the department.

Welch called that “significant movement,” and said Democratic opposition has already yielded benefits, calling the departure of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem “a big deal.” The Senate on Monday confirmed her replacement, Senator Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican and strong supporter of Trump’s deportation agenda.

Coons said he would seriously consider such an offer depending on the details of reforms included, but said there are a lot of different opinions among senators about the best path forward.

Coons said one crucial consideration was including new restrictions on the funding that would restore parts of DHS, like the Border Patrol, to their core functions rather than being used for enforcement in the nation’s interior. But he acknowledged it would not include all of the changes that Democrats have demanded.

He added that he’d want the new guardrails and reforms to apply to all funding, including what Republicans approved last year in Trump’s tax bill.

The two sides have been at an impasse for weeks over two Democratic demands — that DHS agents obtain warrants from judges before entering homes, and that federal agents stop wearing masks.

The White House and its allies have argued that forgoing masks could put officers in jeopardy and that paperwork like warrants would slow the administration’s deportation goals. They had been willing to take other steps, like requiring agents to have identifying information on their uniforms, wear body cameras or receive de-escalation training.

Democrats point out that police officers, judges and others involved in law enforcement can face similar dangers and don’t typically wear masks, and that warrants are required by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

The partial shutdown, which started on Feb. 14, has had significantly less overall impact than last year’s record-setting funding lapse because the two parties agreed to pay for the bulk of the government, including the Departments of Defence and Health and Human Services, in January.