Senate Republicans move to reopen DHS with new plan, wait for Democratic buy-in
Senate Republicans have landed on a funding framework for Homeland Security that they hope will end the shutdown.
Now, they just need Senate Democrats to agree.
The framework, which was developed over the weekend and finalized early this week, would reopen and fund most of the agency, except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
It follows the first face-to-face meetings between Republicans and Democrats during the shutdown, as well as a last-minute meeting at the White House on Monday after President Donald Trump demanded that the GOP combine DHS funding with his prized Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the framework would fund most of DHS, except for roughly $5.5 billion designated for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Senate Democrats previously tried to fund everything except for ICE, but were blocked by Republicans who desired to reopen the entirety of DHS.
It also includes initial compromises from the original bill, such as millions for body-worn cameras, but not the stricter reforms Senate Democrats had demanded.
"If you’re not going to have funding, I don’t know how all of a sudden you can demand reforms," Thune said.
"A lot of the reforms are contingent on funding for ICE. And now, since the ERO office is not going to be funded through ICE, Democrats have basically given up on reforms," he continued. "I never thought that was serious."
Still, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats must agree to the framework before Republicans can move forward.
Schumer said on the Senate floor that Republicans would "hopefully now come back to the table and get serious about reaching a solution to pay" Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers quickly, after Trump’s demands nearly derailed progress made over the past several days.
"We await a written proposal that we will review, because right now the situation in our airports is untenable," Schumer said.
Key Senate Republicans who were at the White House on Monday or have been involved in negotiations huddled in Thune’s office to discuss the framework. They said Republicans had sent the legislative text to Democrats for review.
"We’re ready to go," Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said. "The Democrats need to join us now. We bent over backwards negotiating with them. We talked to the White House and folks on our side, and they need to stop moving the goalposts."
It also appears the White House is on board with the framework. A White House official told Fox News Digital, "Conversations are ongoing, but this deal seems to be acceptable."
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Another part of the framework would fund immigration enforcement — and include portions of the SAVE America Act — through budget reconciliation. That party-line process nearly divided Republicans last year when they passed Trump’s "big, beautiful bill."
Not all Republicans support the plan as it stands, meaning Thune will need as many Senate Democrats as possible to reopen the agency.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told CNBC’s "Squawk Box" that he was a "no" on the deal, arguing the framework "doesn’t make any sense to me."
"And this idea that it will get funded through a reconciliation package is a pipe dream. We’re not going to get a reconciliation package done," Scott said.
"Look at the last one — the only reason it got done is because of the tax cuts. There are no tax cuts in this, there’s no pressure," he continued.