US government shuts down partially over homeland security funding | US politics

Funding for several US government departments was cut off on Saturday, the result of a congressional impasse over new restrictions on federal agents involved in Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign following the killing of two US citizens in Minneapolis.

The partial government shutdown is the result of Democratic senators refusing to vote in favor of a bill allowing continued spending by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), after federal agents killed Alex Pretti in Minnesota’s largest city last week, and Renee Good earlier in January. The minority party’s blockade has jeopardized Republican efforts to approve a broader package of legislation funding other departments, which was expected to pass the Senate before the government’s spending authorization expires Friday.

Democrats are demanding that the DHS funding bill be rewritten to include new restrictions on federal agents, following the killings of Good and Pretti, which came amid a surge of immigration agents that Trump ordered into Minnesota’s largest city.

The Senate on Friday passed a package of five measures to fund government departments through September, as well as a bill to continue DHS operations for two weeks. However, the bill must be approved by the House of Representatives, which is expected to meet on Monday.

The impact of the closure remains uncertain and is unlikely to be felt until at least Monday, the first business day it takes effect. Besides the Department of Homeland Security, Congress has yet to fully pass appropriations for the Departments of Defense, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. Trump said he would sign the spending plan, approved by his White House, when it arrived at his desk.

In a memo released Friday, Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), ordered affected agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, National Security, and State, to “execute plans for an orderly closure.”

“The Administration will continue to work with Congress to address recently raised concerns in order to finalize appropriations for FY 2026,” Vought wrote. “We hope that this delay will be short.”

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said his party wants to ban officers from wearing masks and require them to wear body cameras and adhere to a code of conduct. He also wants provisions relating to alleged violations to be independently investigated, as well as a ban on “roving patrols”, in which officers target people they suspect are in the country illegally.

“These are not sweeping demands, these are basic standards that the American people already expect from law enforcement,” Schumer said Friday.

Negotiations on these changes are expected to take place over the next two weeks.

Prospects for the broader funding plan in the Republican-controlled House remain unclear. Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged Thursday that “we may inevitably find ourselves in a short-term shutdown situation” before the House reconvenes Monday. “But the House is going to do its job. We want the government funded, and so does the president,” he said.

However, Republicans control the House by a mere one-seat margin, holding 218 seats to Democrats’ 213. Right-wing lawmakers recently demanded that the appropriations bill be coupled with the Save Act, which would impose ID requirements for voting that critics say would disenfranchise many Americans. Their insistence could further complicate the passage of measures to the lower house.

A lack of funding is unlikely to stop ICE’s deportation operations. The agency received $75 billion from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year that it could use, and the Trump administration could also require its employees to continue working during a shutdown.

The partial government shutdown comes after a record 43-day funding interruption that began in October, after Democrats insisted that any government funding measure be coupled with an extension of tax credits reducing premiums for Affordable Care Act health plans.

A group of seven moderate Democratic senators ultimately joined the Republican Party to reopen the government, in exchange for Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s promise to pass a measure extending the tax credits. Republicans blocked the bill from voting, and the subsidies expired at the end of 2025.