Congress Passes Spending Bill To Avoid 2nd Government Shutdown, But Permanent DHS Funding Stalls Over ICE Activities
The federal government has narrowly avoided yet another shutdown under the Trump administration, as Congress approved a spending package on Tuesday that secures funding for the vast majority of federal agencies through September. However, funding for certain departments, including the Department of Homeland Security, TSA and FEMA, has only been secured through next week, and future funding for those departments will be decided based on future agreements (or lack thereof) between congressional Democrats and Republicans, with the administration’s immigration crackdown taking center stage in those debates.
From Politico:
The package the House passed in a bipartisan 217-214 vote Tuesday afternoon only funds DHS through next week. Democrats are refusing to support months of additional cash until Republicans agree to rein in the actions of ICE and Border Patrol agents following the fatal shootings last month of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.
Trump is expected to swiftly sign the legislation, ending the partial government shutdown that began early Saturday morning after the Senate passed the altered package, punting the measure back to the House.
But if Republicans don’t concede to enacting significant new mandates for DHS by the new Feb. 13 deadline, the department many Democrats have called “rogue” will face another funding lapse or short-term patch.
“We have a list that we want done, and we aren’t settling for half-measures,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), the No. 3 party leader, told reporters Tuesday. He warned that if Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson “don’t want to come to the table and negotiate real reform, then they’re going to have to explain to the American public why they’re shutting down agencies.”
So, basically, if Democrats don’t cave — the way many people felt they did last year by voting to end the first shutdown without the extension of health care subsidies — concessions will need to be made regarding federal immigration cops engaging in rampant racial profiling, physical brutality, warrantless arrests, child endangerment and other human rights violations, otherwise departments such as DHS will only run into funding issues again down the line.
Also, perhaps DHS can stop spreading victim-blaming propaganda in order to cover up the abuses its agents are demonstrably committing, if it still wants to claim to be a department worth our tax dollars.
Unfortunately, congressional Republicans only seem to be interested in deferring to their MAGA messiah, President Donald Trump, and reinforcing his administration’s “criminal illegal alien” propaganda.
“We will keep the wheels of progress turning and let the president do what he does best, and that’s negotiate a final deal on his signature issue,” Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) said Tuesday, keeping up the MAGA-fied pretense that the “art of the deal” is being reflected by Trump’s time in office. “If anyone can get this deal done that is going to crack down on illegal criminal aliens to protect our community, that’s going to be President Donald J. Trump.”
*sigh*
How many government shutdowns are we going to have to dodge over the next three years because congressional “leaders” have no integrity or spine to stand up in the face of bigotry, authoritarianism, and idiocracy?
Are we cooked, or what?
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