The race to avoid another shutdown: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the political officea newsletter bringing you the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News Politics team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, our Capitol Hill team reports on negotiations between President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. Plus, Jonathan Allen looks at White House border czar Tom Homan’s arrival in Minneapolis.

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—Adam Wollner

Trump says he and Democrats are ‘close’ to agreement to resolve shutdown fight

By Scott Wong, Sahil Kapur, Ryan Nobles and Frank Thorp V

President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats are close to reaching a deal to avoid shutting down most of the government on Saturday, seeking to defuse a bitter fight over the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement that reached boiling point after the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

“I hope we don’t have a shutdown. We’re working on that right now. I think we’re getting close to that. The Democrats, I don’t think, want to see that either,” Trump said at his first Cabinet meeting of the new year. “So we’re going to work in a very bipartisan way, I believe, to avoid a shutdown. We don’t want to shut down.”

The emerging deal mirrors what senators from both parties had proposed a day earlier: passing a short-term funding bill for DHS, while the two parties negotiate changes within the department, as well as bills to fund the rest of the government through September 30.

The two sides are still negotiating how long the stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, would fund DHS, with Democrats preferring something very short.

This afternoon, the Senate rejected a massive $1.2 trillion funding package that the House passed last week; this legislation consolidated all six funding bills, including funding for DHS. The vote in the Senate was 45-55, with eight Republicans joining all Democrats in voting no — far short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

The Republicans who voted against the measure were Sens. Ted BuddRN.C.; Ron JohnsonR-Wis.; Mike LeeR-Utah; Rand PaulR-Ky.; Ashley MoodyR-Fla.; Rick ScottR-Fla.; And Tommy TubervilleR-Ala. For procedural reasons, Senate Majority Leader John ThuneRS.D., changed his vote to “no”.

The failure to vote on the House package was expected, as Democrats had warned they would not support it without meaningful safeguards tied to DHS and ICE operations. But the degree of Republican Party opposition to the existing package highlights the leverage Democrats have in reaching a deal.

“This is a moment of truth for the United States of America. What the nation witnessed on the streets of Minneapolis on Saturday was a moral abomination,” the Senate Minority Leader said. Chuck SchumerDN.Y., said. “What ICE is doing, outside of the law, is state-sanctioned brutality, and it must stop. …And Congress has the authority and moral obligation to act.”

Thune, meanwhile, is deferring to the White House to strike a deal, telling reporters: “My hope and expectation is that, yes, as Democrats in the White House and the Senate, they will find a solution, that they will be able to produce the votes necessary to pass it.” »

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Tom Homan brings a new approach, at least rhetorically, to Minneapolis

Analysis by Jonathan Allen

The new face of the White House’s mass deportation campaign set a much different tone in his first public remarks since arriving in a torn Minneapolis earlier this week.

Gone was Greg Bovinothe ultra-combatant border patrolman with the unique title of commander-at-large. He had attracted attention by engaging in altercations with protesters, wearing a long jacket and carrying chemical spray cans, and urging his subordinates to use aggressive tactics against targets and protesters with the memorable phrase — perhaps borrowed from “Top Gun” — “turn and burn.”

In its place is Tom Homanthe White House border czar, a career immigration enforcement official once praised by the president Barack Obama then appointed to positions in both Trump administrations.

Homan wore a suit and tie to his press conference this morning. He said he had productive meetings with Democratic officials in Minnesota, including the attorney general. Keith Ellisonformer leader of the House Progressive Caucus. He charted the course to restore calm and reduce the federal presence.

While he asked for greater cooperation from state elected officials, he stopped to acknowledge that Minnesota was already turning over undocumented detainees in state prisons to ICE — a talking point of the governor. Tim Walz. And he expressed a sentiment that was absent from the speeches of other senior administration officials: Law enforcement officers, protesters and undocumented immigrants should be freed from fear of deadly violence.

“I don’t want to see anyone die, even the people we’re looking for,” Homan said. “I say a prayer every night that everyone is safe at home.”

It remains to be seen whether the president Donald Trumpin Minneapolis – spurred by the murder of Alex Pretti Saturday and the disintegration of the White House narrative that Pretti intended to “assassinate” the agents who shot him — will include changes in tactics on the ground or simply rhetoric behind a lectern.

But words can mean a lot. Homan is unlikely to tell ICE and Border Patrol agents that they have full immunity, as vice president. J.D. Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller did. Instead, his message is one of restraint – on all sides – and it follows Trump’s announcement of wanting to “de-escalate” in Minneapolis. This could filter through the ranks in the same way that the combative words of Bovino, Vance and Miller appeared.

Trump’s deployment of Homan was met with skepticism from the left and frustration from the right. The left does not believe its presence will stop federal agents from using force against protesters, children as “bait,” and the law from targeting undocumented immigrants who pose no threat to the community — those who have committed no crime other than coming to the United States illegally or exceeding their right to be here.

On the right, Bovino has earned folk hero status as the most formidable weapon in Trump’s national campaign to deport millions of immigrants — operations he promised to carry out as a candidate in 2024.

The disappointment speaks to the challenges Homan faces and the fear — at ends of the political spectrum, where activists are deeply invested in fighting immigration — that he can deliver on his implicit promise: that he can leave Minneapolis with criminals on his hands and calm in the streets.

That’s all that’s coming from the politburo for now. Today’s newsletter was written by Adam Wollner.

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