WASHINGTON – Republicans have tried to use the Trump administration’s attack on Iran to pressure Democrats to give in on their demands to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
But Democrats are quickly rejecting that initiative, making clear they will continue to push for changes to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as Customs and Border Protection, after federal agents killed two Americans in Minneapolis.
“No,” said moderate Sen. Angus King of Maine, when asked if the war changes his stance. “I don’t think the two are related.”
King, who is part of the Democrats, has previously opposed the closures. His refusal to pivot serves as an indicator that the party has no intention of backing down.
DHS funding expired on Feb. 13, forcing a partial shutdown of the department affecting the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and cybersecurity. Democrats have been negotiating with the White House on changes to immigration enforcement to secure their votes to fully reopen the agency.
If Republicans care about protecting the United States from terrorist attacks, “we should fund everything at DHS except ICE,” King said. “That would be an easy way to solve any problems that may arise,” he added.
“What does the TSA have to do with Iran or FEMA?” he said, incredulously.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., the only Democrat running for re-election this year in a state Donald Trump won, said Congress can do both: fund DHS and impose basic standards on immigration agents.
“We want to ensure that agencies that protect the American people are funded and ensure that federal agents maintain the highest standards of conduct and integrity,” Ossoff said.
He said Americans broadly support the idea that federal agents “should not assault or kill Americans with impunity.”
He added that the Senate could vote immediately to ensure TSA staff are paid while negotiations continue. They, like many other DHS employees, must work without pay until the funding impasse is resolved, while the White House has found ways to pay others, such as the Secret Service and some law enforcement officials.
Passing a DHS funding bill requires 60 votes in the Senate, where Republicans control 53 seats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Tuesday criticized what he said was Trump’s “war of choice” in Iran, giving no indication that his stance on DHS has changed.
The White House and Senate Democrats have continued to trade offers back and forth, without revealing many details publicly. So far, they have failed to make any progress. Republicans have shown no interest in partially reopening DHS.
The GOP hoped that the Iran war would soften Democratic resistance to funding DHS unless its conditions were met.
“Right now, obviously, when you’re seeing a potential increase in activity inside us, it’s more important than ever that we fully fund DHS,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that crafts funding bills for DHS. “And I think there are several of my Democratic colleagues who will hopefully continue to have conversations, so we can try to do that.”
Sen. David McCormick, D-Pa., made a similar argument.
“Now would be a good time for Democrats to drop their opposition to DHS funding and pass the bill to support our national security,” he wrote in X. “Continuing to play political games with our national security given the situation unfolding in the Middle East is dangerous.”
But Democrats are unimpressed with his argument, calling it a pretext and irrelevant to the dispute at hand.
“They went to war with Iran (which no one in America was asking for) so they could conjure up an excuse to allow ICE to continue murdering Americans and tear gassing schools here at home with impunity (which no one in America was asking for),” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees DHS, said in response to McCormick.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, said there have been “constructive negotiations” to reform DHS based on “completely reasonable” requests from Democrats, which he said would persist.
“Bluntly, we shouldn’t say, ‘Oh, we abdicate any responsibility for ICE’s conduct and any changes in training and policy, because we have an urgent national security situation.’ There is robust funding available for a national security moment like this,” Coons said.
