(NewsNation) — The risk of another government shutdown is growing following the shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis.
Democratic lawmakers in Washington said they now plan to block a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security in order to rein in its Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE. The Senate was already slated to vote this week on a bill to fund the government that included the DHS funds.
At least 15 senators, all Democrats, have publicly said they will not vote to give any more money to DHS without including restrictions on immigration enforcement.
The funding bill needs 60 votes to pass, so even if all Senate Republicans vote yes and support the package, they would still need seven Democrats to vote yes. It has already passed the House.
“What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling — and unacceptable in any American city,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in part on X. “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”
Schumer added that DHS’s spending is “woefully inadequate to rein in abuses of ICE.”
The current funding package up for consideration is made up of six government funding bills that cover multiple different agencies, not just DHS. The part that does cover the agency would budget $64 billion, and that would include $10 billion for ICE.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who oversees the funding process in the Senate, told NewsNation she’s “exploring all options” on the government funding vote, and that includes potentially stripping out the bill for DHS funding and making that separate so the Senate can pass the rest of the package and avoid a partial government shutdown.
Senators are not in session on Monday because of the snowstorm, but the funding bill is urgent and needs to be passed by Friday. Democratic senators are scheduled to have a private caucus call later on Sunday to discuss the spending package.
A White House official told NewsNation amid the news of Senate Democrats preparing to vote no on the spending bill and risking a partial shutdown, they hope “cooler heads will prevail.”
