Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) announced Monday that Senate Democrats are prepared to speed up passage of five government funding bills — but not funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — to avoid a large swath of the government shutting down at the end of the week. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) has yet to say what his plan is for avoiding a partial government shutdown although it is expected he will attempt to advance a six-bill funding package passed by the House last week, but Democrats announced over the weekend that they would block it unless the Homeland Security appropriations bill is stripped out. Both chambers have already passed six of the 12 funding bills with the House passing the remaining six in several batches alongside a rule that combined them into one package to send to the Senate. Majority Leader Thune would need unanimous consent to strip the Homeland Security funding measure from the package, but he could secure 96 percent of government funding by passing the five other appropriations bills through the Senate this week.
Among the list of demands Democrats are making for DHS reform are requiring judicial warrants for immigration arrests, mandating federal agents identify themselves, requiring DHS to cooperate with state and local investigations and limiting the “mission creep of federal agencies.” Republicans are reluctant to engage, taking the first step Monday to set up an initial vote on the package Thursday with GOP senators dangling alternatives that would let them avoid having to tweak the package at the eleventh hour, floating new potential executive actions or a commitment to passing a separate piece of legislation that would address shared priorities.
For today, the Senate will reconvene at 3:00 P.M. and at 5:30 P.M. will take up 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.
The House remains in recess until Monday, February, 2nd.
