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Political turmoil in the U.S. House over President Donald Trump’s immigration raids risks prolonging a partial government shutdown that began Saturday.
Speaker Mike Johnson faces a tricky path to clear a Senate-passed bill – the product of a negotiation between Trump and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. That bill would fund most agencies through Sept. 30, and the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13, preserving funding for immigration raids while both parties negotiate changes to enforcement policies.
Yet the bill faces a revolt from within both parties, possibly extending what was hoped to be a brief weekend shutdown. Johnson expects the Rules Committee to conduct an initial vote on Monday, and said he hopes final passage would happen on Tuesday.
If the shutdown persists into the week, the closely watched Labor Department jobs report on Friday could be delayed. The tax filing season, which kicked off last week, could be hampered. And government contractors’ pay and service delays would spread the longer it goes on. Non-essential government workers would be furloughed.
Democrats, aware of public outrage over the administration’s methods in cracking down on immigration, want to prevent more killings by masked, armed agents in cities like Minneapolis, where two U.S. citizens have been shot dead. Conservatives worry that by supporting Trump’s agreement to place limits on agents’ behavior, they would be abandoning their core campaign promises.
Progressive Democrats say they will not vote for even two weeks of DHS funding until Trump agrees to impose new limits on immigration raids.
“My Progressive Caucus colleagues and I have been clear: Not another cent to ICE until we stop the chaos and the lawlessness,” caucus Chairman Greg Casar said in a social media post on Friday, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
To pass the bill, Johnson will need to cobble together a bipartisan coalition of moderates in each party by focusing on support for defense spending and reversing cuts to research by Elon Musk’s “efficiency” effort.
Johnson, speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, sought to win over more Democrats by saying he sees a “path” to changing immigration enforcement policies, including requiring body cameras for officers and ending roving raids.
But he rebuffed key demands to require judicial warrants to arrest migrants and to unmask officers, whom he said are at risk if their identities were known.
Plan scuttled
Johnson initially planned to pass the Senate bill on Monday night using an expedited procedure that would require about 70 Democratic votes to reach a two-thirds majority. But it soon became clear that most Democrats would oppose the bill because it contains any money for immigration raids.
“We need a robust path toward dramatic reform. The administration can’t just talk the talk. They need to walk the walk. That should begin today. Not in two weeks, today,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday on ABC’s This Week.
Johnson will now change tactics, bringing the bill to the floor using a House rule, which limits amendments and floor debate time. That rule will likely need pass with only Republican majority votes.
Johnson is invoking Trump to rally conservatives.
“The president is leading this; it’s his play call to do it this way,” Johnson said on Fox News Sunday.
Johnson may get help from at least some of the seven moderate Democrats who voted for a full-year DHS bill – before ICE agents killed Minnesota protester Alex Pretti – that received a separate vote in the House before being bundled together and sent to the Senate.
Moderate Democrat Henry Cuellar said he plans to vote for the bill with the two-week DHS spending measure and that he thinks it will pass the House on a majority vote. He would not say if he would vote for the rule to save it from a conservative rebellion.
Shutdown effects
The government shutdown that began at midnight early Saturday affects the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development, along with smaller agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Most federal workers have been ordered to report to work Monday to begin shutdown procedures.
A shutdown could advantage Democrats ahead of the fall midterms if the last stoppage was any guide. They tried and failed to use last fall’s 43-day shutdown to get the GOP to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies, making affordability a winning issue for them.
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