Democrats say they won’t relent on DHS funding demands because of Iran war

WASHINGTON — Republicans sought to use the Trump administration’s attack on Iran to pressure Democrats to drop their demands to defund the Department of Homeland Security.

But Democrats are quickly rejecting the initiative, making clear they will continue to insist on changes aimed at curbing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as Customs and Border Protection, after federal agents killed two Americans in Minneapolis.

“No,” said moderate Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, when asked if the war changed his position. “I don’t think the two are related.”

King, who is caucusing with Democrats, has previously opposed the closures. Its refusal to pivot indicates that the party has no intention of backing down.

DHS funding expired on Feb. 13, forcing a partial shutdown of the department that affects the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Coast Guard and cybersecurity. Democrats have negotiated immigration enforcement changes with the White House to get their votes to fully reopen the agency.

If Republicans want to protect the United States from terrorist attacks, “we should fund everything at DHS except ICE,” King said. “It would be a simple way to resolve any issues that might arise,” he added.

“What does the TSA have to do with Iran – or FEMA?” » he said, incredulously.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, Democrat of Georgia, the only Democrat running for re-election this year in a state won by Donald Trump, said Congress can do both: fund DHS while imposing basic standards on immigration agents.

“We want to ensure that the agencies that protect the American people are funded and that federal agents uphold the highest standards of conduct and integrity,” Ossoff said.

He said Americans broadly support the idea that federal agents “should not assault or kill Americans with impunity.”

He added that the Senate could vote immediately to ensure TSA staff are paid while negotiations continue. Like many other DHS employees, they must work without pay until the financial impasse is resolved, while the White House has found ways to pay others, such as the Secret Service and some law enforcement officials.

Passing a DHS funding bill requires 60 votes in the Senate, where Republicans control 53 seats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Tuesday ripped into what he called Trump’s “war of choice” in Iran, without giving any indication that his position on DHS has changed.

The White House and Senate Democrats continued to exchange offers, without publicly revealing many details. So far, they have failed to achieve a breakthrough. Republicans have shown no interest in reopening DHS on a partial basis.

The Republican Party hoped that the war in Iran would soften Democrats’ resistance to funding DHS unless their conditions were met.

“Right now, obviously, where you’re seeing a potential increase in activity in our interior, it’s more important than ever that we fully fund DHS,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who leads the appropriations subcommittee that crafts DHS funding bills. “And I think a number of my Democratic colleagues will hopefully continue to have conversations, so we can try to do that.”

Sen. David McCormick, D-Pa., made a similar argument.

“Now would be a good time for Democrats to abandon their opposition to funding DHS and pass the bill to support our homeland security,” he wrote on X. “Continuing to play political games with our national security given the evolving situation in the Middle East is dangerous. »

But Democrats are unimpressed with their argument, calling it pretense and irrelevant to the dispute at hand.

“They went to war with Iran (which no one in America asked for) so they could use an excuse to allow ICE to continue to murder Americans and gas schools here at home with impunity (which no one in America asked for),” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing DHS, in response to McCormick.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said there have been “constructive negotiations” to overhaul DHS based on “entirely reasonable” demands from Democrats, which he said would persist.

“Frankly, we shouldn’t say, ‘Oh, we’re abdicating all responsibility for the conduct of ICE and any changes in training and policy, because we have an urgent national security situation.’ There is robust funding available for a national security moment like this,” Coons said.