Homeland Security Talks Already in Doubt With Little Time Left

Lawmakers are navigating partisan distrust and sharp policy disagreements as they seek a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security past Feb. 13 and rein in immigration enforcement tactics.

Procedural hurdles and limited floor time are also complicating lawmakers’ efforts to reach a deal in just nine days, making another short-term funding bill or shutdown of the department almost inevitable.

“The sides seem to be pretty far apart,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Wednesday.

Senate Democrats have outlined several demands in exchange for their support of a Homeland Security funding bill, including requiring federal agents to wear body cameras and banning the use of masks to obscure agents’ identity. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Wednesday that Democrats will release a formal proposal “within the next 24 hours.”

There’s little sign Democrats’ demands are getting traction with Republicans, although it’s the White House. which is leading the GOP’s negotiations, that they’ll really have to convince.

There’s also no impression either side sees the other as negotiating in good faith, putting a bipartisan compromise further out of reach. Thune told reporters both Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) are “afraid of their shadows and they’re getting a lot of blowback and pressure from their left.”

Schumer and Jeffries dismissed Republicans’ negotiating positions Wednesday, with Jeffries saying Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has “articulated unreasonable positions.” The pair also demanded that House Republicans be involved in the negotiations as well.

“We need the White House on board, we need the Senate Republicans, we need the House Republicans on board,” Schumer said.

‘Egregious’ Demands

Many Republicans have outright rejected some of Democrats’ demands, including their proposals to require judicial warrants and unmask agents. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) called the demands “pretty egregious” and said any changes to DHS funding are “not happening” if Democrats insist on every one of their proposals.

“We are willing to have a productive serious conversation if they want to,” Mullin said, pointing to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s announcement that federal agents in Minneapolis will begin wearing body cameras.

But Noem’s announcement didn’t move the needle for most Democrats. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) noted implementation of body cameras requires a host of other policies along with infrastructure.

“There are policies and procedures and standards and retention requirements for that video that have to be considered,” Cortez Masto told reporters Monday. “Just sending them out and saying ‘OK you’ve got a body camera.’ That is not the answer to this.”

Democrats’ demand that ICE officers show their faces has also rankled Republicans.

“Are demonstrators unmasked?” Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) asked, although he also said enforcement should return to targeting individual criminals rather than conducting mass raids.

Conservative hardliners are aggrieved at Democrats for dictating the terms of the current DHS stopgap and have warned they won’t accept any significant restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) reluctantly predicted DHS would ultimately shut down.

“Give them the stupid 10 days,” Norman said Monday. “Let’s see how that plays out. It’s going to get shut down. Let them bear the consequences.”

Stopgap Looks Likely

The gridlock makes another stopgap or shutdown likely after Feb. 13. Thune said he was open to a two- or three-week stopgap, but only if progress is being made. If not, he said lawmakers could have to resort to a full-year continuing resolution.

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), chairman of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, pointed out that a full-year continuing resolution would give DHS more funding than the full-year bill appropriators originally agreed to last month.

“If you just wait year-long, DHS has more money under a continuing resolution that goes through September than they did under the bill that we passed 10 days ago,” Amodei said.

A full-year stopgap has little appeal for House Democrats, meaning the chamber’s Republicans would have to carry it on their own. Jeffries has ruled out any additional funding for DHS — even a stopgap — without significant changes to ICE and CBP policy.

If the two sides can’t agree to a continuing resolution, allowing funding for DHS to lapse again would carry political risks. Much of the department’s work continues during a funding lapse, covered by exceptions for law enforcement and emergency work. Still, the agency oversees disaster aid via the Federal Emergency Management Agency and air travel security via the Transportation Security Administration — two functions that can face disruptions with a significant impact on the public in a prolonged shutdown.

New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman said his party would win another DHS shutdown fight if its demands aren’t met.

“I think it’s pretty clear the American people are with us so we feel like we are firmly in the right in fighting for the reforms that we’re advocating for,” he said at a Wednesday Bloomberg Government roundtable with reporters and editors.