Senate Democrats on Tuesday voted for a second time this month to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security as they continue to push for major changes to the way the Trump administration conducts immigration enforcement.
The 50-45 vote — short of the 60 needed to clear a filibuster — came on the 11th day of the DHS shutdown. Democrats remain locked in a stalemate with Republicans and the White House over potential restrictions to President Trump’s deportation force.
“So far they have not budged on the key issues, like masks, like warrants, like oversight from state authorities,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat.
Democrats have demanded that the DHS funding bill ban U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents from wearing masks and require them to obtain judicial warrants before entering private property, among other changes to how they conduct immigration enforcement.
In the wake of the fatal shootings last month of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Democrats also want to give states authority to investigate and prosecute excessive use of force.
Republicans have engaged in negotiations, but the two sides remain far apart on what they are willing to accept. For example, Democrats view the judicial warrant requirement as a must-have provision, while Republicans have said it is a nonstarter.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said the second offer Democrats sent the White House last week is essentially the same as their first.
“There’s room for compromise here, but only if both sides give room,” he said. “Democrats aren’t doing that.”
Mr. Schumer said it is the White House that is “not negotiating.”
“They’re just trying to pass paper back and forth with no real changes,” he said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The Senate vote on Tuesday largely mirrored the first procedural vote the Senate took on Feb. 12 to try to advance a House-passed DHS spending bill before the department’s stopgap funding expired.
Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has consistently opposed shutting down any part of government, was the only Democrat to vote in favor of proceeding to the bill.
He and Republicans have argued that Democrats shutting down DHS does nothing to stop immigration enforcement because ICE and CBP have a separate stream of funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Other DHS agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Secret Service, have had to stop nonessential functions.
Employees who are deemed essential and must still report to work, including 95% of the TSA, will not be paid during the shutdown.
“Civilian Coast Guard employees won’t get a full paycheck at the end of this week,” Mr. Thune said. “And thousands more Americans — from disaster response personnel at FEMA to TSA agents — are worried about potentially missing pay as soon as next week.”
