After weeks of brinkmanship and public defiance, Senate Democrats moved Thursday toward a deal with President Donald Trump that would avert a full government shutdown, while preserving full funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and leaving millions of Americans without protection from rising health care costs.
The agreement, which was still incomplete and not yet secured within the Democratic caucus by Friday morning, would separate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding from five other appropriations bills and extend DHS funding for two weeks. The move would allow ICE to continue operating at current levels while negotiations over accountability and enforcement standards are postponed.
The arrangement triggered immediate backlash inside the Senate Democratic caucus, where several lawmakers said the deal amounts to surrendering leverage at a moment when the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has intensified and public scrutiny of federal law enforcement has grown sharper following two fatal shootings involving federal agents in Minnesota.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) had announced progress late Thursday only to discover later that he lacked the votes to move forward, an admission that again exposed divisions within his own party. The Senate had already blocked a six-bill funding package earlier in the day by a 55 to 45 vote after Democrats refused to approve DHS funding without firm restrictions on ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
Those demands included limits on the use of force, a ban on face coverings, and mandatory body cameras. None of those measures are included in the stopgap extension now under discussion.
Absent from the deal entirely is legislation to extend Affordable Care Act premium subsidies that tens of millions of Americans depend on to afford coverage. Without congressional action, those subsidies face expiration, threatening higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs at a time when inflation and medical expenses continue to strain household budgets.
During the shutdown last fall, Democrats agreed to a deal to reopen the government only with a promise from Republicans that they’d negotiate a deal to continue the all-important subsidies.
The political maneuvering has pushed Congress back toward the edge of another partial shutdown, less than three months after the government reopened from a 43-day closure that disrupted federal services nationwide. Budget analysts have warned that a shutdown beginning Saturday would place nearly half of the civilian federal workforce at risk of furloughs or unpaid work and delay critical functions at the Internal Revenue Service, the National Institutes of Health, and other agencies.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has already cautioned that logistical constraints make it unlikely the House could act before the funding deadline, even if the Senate reaches agreement, raising the prospect of yet another lapse caused not by lack of options but by political calculation.
Trump pressed lawmakers to close the deal.
“The only thing that can slow our country down is another long and damaging government shutdown,” he said. “I am working hard with Congress to ensure that we are able to fully fund the government, without delay.”