President Donald Trump rejected a pitch to fund other agencies under the Department of Homeland Security except for ICE, multiple sources confirmed to The Daily Wire on Monday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated to the president that Senate Republicans and some Democrats would back the pitch in hopes of ending the shutdown that started in mid-February, according to Punchbowl News. In exchange, funding for ICE would be handled through a future reconciliation bill that would only need Republican votes to pass, the report noted.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday.
A source familiar with the talks said that there is a “bipartisan negotiation train that is still working” that met with White House border czar Tom Homan last week.
In addition, one GOP Senate staffer indicated to The Daily Wire that Democrats are “letting go potentially of judicial warrants and face masks” in exchange for not allowing further ICE funding through the appropriations process, with some exceptions like Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The staffer noted that it could be a “true compromise” because Republicans already have much of what they want for ICE funding with the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed by Trump last year.
According to the source, the Democrats in the conversation include Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and some of the “moderate Dems who voted to reopen the government during the last shutdown.”
“They’ve been dragging their feet the whole time. They’ve been slow walking it, and they keep moving the goalposts of what they actually want, while TSA continues to be held hostage,” the source said, noting that it took 18 days for Senate Democrats to send an update counteroffer to the White House.
Democrats backed out of a meeting with White House staff on Saturday, according to a GOP Senate staffer on background, and the White House did not end up meeting with Senate Democrats on Monday.
As for the Monday meeting, the White House said that it has to do with Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-OK) likely confirmation to become DHS secretary on Monday night.
“Given that Democrats turned down a previous meeting and that Mullin is likely to be confirmed tonight, it seemed appropriate to wait until after his confirmation to allow him to be a full participant in ongoing conversations,” a White House official told The Daily Wire on background Monday.
Some of the most contentious parts of the negotiations have been on the proposed use of judicial warrants and the end of masking for agents, two of the most notable items that Democrats have requested for federal immigration enforcement reforms, according to Punchbowl News.
The White House sent its counteroffer to the Senate last week, which included proposals such as “[expanding] the use of body-worn cameras and to ‘limit civil immigration enforcement activities at certain sensitive locations,'” along with heightened oversight of ICE detention facilities.
While the talks continue, the president sent ICE to numerous airports in hopes of speeding up wait times in security lines, as hundreds of TSA agents have walked off the job with no paycheck in sight.
Senate Democrats have argued that Republicans have been unwilling to fund TSA by itself, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) forced an ultimately unsuccessful vote to just pay employees from that specific agency on Saturday, The Hill reported.
“Instead of sending ICE agents to harass travelers at airports, why don’t Republicans get their act together and agree to pay TSA workers like we’ve asked them to SEVEN TIMES now?” Schumer posted to X on Sunday.
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