Chances for a partial shutdown of the U.S. government by the end of this week grew exponentially on Sunday due to outrage over federal immigration agents fatally shooting Alex Pretti in Minnesota, the second such horrific incident this month. A growing crowd of Democratic senators warned that they will not vote for a massive $1.2 trillion package to fund federal government operations if it includes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement efforts. Senate Democrats held a conference call Sunday to discuss their strategy after they made it clear they will block a Department of Homeland Security funding bill meaning the package doesn’t have the 60 votes it needs to overcome the filibuster and pass the Senate. Republicans hold a 53-47 vote majority in the Senate, meaning Democratic support will be needed to pass the measure. Further complicating matters, the House is on recess all week, so anything that revises that package and requires it to vote again is also questionable by the deadline Friday at midnight. There’s also the snowstorm, which has postponed the Senate’s return from Monday to Tuesday afternoon.
It was unclear if the Senate could split the DHS portion off from the rest of the funding bill to minimize a partial shutdown. While the House passed the DHS bill separately from the rest of the bills, they were all tied together into one bill to be sent to the Senate, meaning the majority of Republicans would need to support splitting the bill up. It remains possible that enough Democrats join with Republicans to pass the funding bill and avoid a shutdown as many of the other agencies in the package are important to Democrats.
When the Senate returns to Washington tomorrow afternoon, it will consider a Motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to Calendar #300, S.3627, to require institutions of higher education to disseminate information on the rights of, and accommodations and resources for, pregnant students.
