President Trump said Tuesday that he’s willing to take a “good, hard look” at the Republican plan to end the partial government shutdown and fund the Department of Homeland Security, but he didn’t say he’d support it.
“Any deal they make I’m pretty much not happy with,” Mr. Trump said of Senate Republicans.
Asked if he would sign a deal that funds everything but Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations so Transportation Security Administration agents could get paid, Mr. Trump said he wouldn’t comment until he sees the proposal.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump reiterated his support for tying any proposal to fund the DHS with the Save America Act, a voter ID bill, and an amendment to the funding bill rejected by Democrats that would have banned transgender athletes from playing in women’s sports.
“We’re going to take a good, hard look at it,” Mr. Trump said. “I want to support Republicans and you know it’s awfully hard to get votes when you have Democrats that don’t want to have voter ID, they don’t want to have proof of citizenship, they don’t want to do anything about men playing in women’s sports.”
Earlier Tuesday, a White House official told The Washington Times that Mr. Trump is willing to back the Republican plan to end the partial shutdown and fund DHS without money for ICE removal.
“Conversations are ongoing, but this deal seems to be acceptable,” the official told The Times.
Under the proposed plan, which a group of GOP senators discussed with Mr. Trump at the White House on Monday night, the Senate would pass the DHS funding bill without money for immigration enforcement to get Democrats’ votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
Then, once that’s passed, Republicans will try to muscle through a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation bill without Democratic votes to fund ICE and also include long-sought voter ID provisions in the same bill.
Mr. Trump had previously rejected a similar proposal, and his support for the GOP plan marks a significant shift. On Monday, the president demanded Republicans refuse to accept any deal to restore funding to DHS unless Democrats moved to back the SAVE America Act, Mr. Trump’s much-desired voter ID bill.
Mr. Trump even called on lawmakers to stay in Washington over the Easter recess to vote on a measure that would have tied DHS funding to passing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.
Democrats are awaiting a written proposal from Republicans to review, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said early Tuesday afternoon.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said the offer is to fund roughly 94% of the DHS budget. Only $5.5 billion of ICE’s budget for deportation and removal operations will remain unfunded in the bill.
ICE already has money for that purpose from the budget reconciliation package Republicans passed last summer, and they can attempt another to approve more immigration enforcement funding and perhaps address the GOP’s election bill, the SAVE America Act, Mr. Thune said.
He said the measure will contain some previously agreed changes to ICE training, oversight and use of body cameras but not some of the broader changes Democrats were seeking, such as a requirement that ICE use judicial warrants for arrests on private property.
“This is a really a good outcome, where we’ve moved the Democrats a long way in our direction,” Mr. Thune said.
The president has not yet weighed in publicly and could still change his mind about the emerging deal.
Many MAGA-aligned Republicans are casting doubt on whether the SAVE Act can be approved through budget reconciliation.
The process’ exemption from the filibuster comes with strict rules that any policy changes included in it have to have more than a “merely incidental” impact on federal spending or revenues.
Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican and lead sponsor of the SAVE America, said it is “essentially impossible” to pass the bill through budget reconciliation.
The partial government shutdown has lasted 39 days and resulted in long lines across the nation’s airports because Transportation Safety Administration officials have called out or resigned amid missed paychecks because of the shutdown.
Lines at security checkpoints in airports across the country have spiked in recent days as several hundred TSA employees have resigned or called out sick because they have been working without pay.
Saturday marked the day with the highest number of nationwide call-outs — more than 3,250 employees. More than 400 officers have “separated” from the agency, according to DHS.
