Senate Test Votes on DHS Funding Fail as Democrats, GOP Negotiate

TSA official Ha Nguyen McNeill told House lawmakers this week that her agency has already lost more than 480 transportation security officers since the DHS shutdown began, producing what she called "the highest wait times in TSA history, with some wait times greater than four and a half hours." The testimony landed as Senate test votes to reopen the department continued to fail, with both parties trading blame and counteroffers that each side dismissed as inadequate.

The Senate on Friday again failed to move forward with legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security. In a 47 to 37 vote, the legislation failed to reach the 60-vote threshold it needed to advance. Sixteen senators did not vote, and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans. Friday's vote marked the fifth time since Feb. 12 that the Senate attempted to advance a House-passed bill that would fund the department through September. DHS has been shut down since Feb. 14.

A potential deal to end the shutdown appeared to stall after Senate Democrats made their latest counteroffer, with Majority Leader John Thune dismissing it as unserious. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer framed the proposal as a "reasonable, good-faith proposal" that includes reforms to ICE, the key sticking point in the negotiations. Republicans said they were willing to exclude money for ICE's deportation arm from the bill, but Democrats rejected that as insufficient. Thune said the Democratic offer was "not even close to being real," adding that Democrats are "asking for things that have already been turned down, so it just seems like they're going in circles."

The core Democratic demand centers on how ICE agents conduct enforcement operations. During his confirmation hearing, Markwayne Mullin said there should be some changes to how ICE is deployed, telling senators he would require ICE officers to obtain judicial warrants before entering private property, with limited exceptions. Democrats have demanded the use of judicial warrants, rather than the less-restrictive administrative warrants ICE has been using, be codified in legislation as part of any agreement.

A bipartisan group of senators met with border czar Tom Homan in what Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama said was the first time both sides had met in six weeks. Leaving the meeting, Britt said "today was not negotiation, it was conversation." Homan met with the group again Friday, though Democrats left the meeting after less than an hour. A third meeting slated for Saturday was canceled at the last minute, according to Fox News reporting, leaving the weekend negotiating calendar uncertain.

Schumer pushed for a procedural split, invoking cloture on Senate Rule XXV to set up a Saturday vote that would fund TSA separately from ICE and Customs and Border Protection. "The chaos at TSA is reaching a boiling point. We need to reopen it as quickly as possible," Schumer said in a floor speech Friday. Senators in both parties are feeling growing pressure to fund the TSA and other critical agencies as travelers now have to wait several hours at some airports to get through security lines.

At some airports, 40 to 50 percent of the TSA workforce is calling out on certain days. McNeill warned that the agency is "being forced to consolidate lanes and may have to close smaller airports" if officer numbers continue to fall.

The Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin's nomination to lead DHS on Monday, making him the newest member of Trump's Cabinet. The Oklahoma Republican was chosen by President Donald Trump earlier this month to replace Kristi Noem, who attracted scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans alike for her leadership of the department and her use of taxpayer dollars. Mullin's confirmation is unlikely to unlock a deal, as Democrats have made it clear that their opposition to funding DHS is about policy, not personnel. They insist they will not provide enough support to reach the 60-vote threshold unless Republicans agree to add restrictions on ICE and Border Patrol agents, including wearing identification, removing masks, and requiring judicial warrants for raids on private property.

Thune said he has not made a final decision about whether senators will leave for their two-week recess at the end of the week if no deal is reached. The most recent vote on Thursday marked the seventh attempt to advance the measure, which requires 60 votes. With the shutdown now stretching past 40 days and spring recess approaching, the arithmetic of a deal has not changed — only the urgency around it has.