The White House sent a Department of Homeland Security funding counterproposal to Democrats in Congress on Monday, The Daily Wire confirmed with an official on background.
There are currently no public details about the offer, which came after Democrats made a list of ten demands to reform federal immigration enforcement that needed to be met for funding of the agency to continue.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is expected to put forward a continuing resolution proposal on Tuesday to maintain funding for DHS while negotiations continue, but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other Democrats in both chambers have said that he’s adamantly opposed to another temporary measure while a deal is being sorted out.
“I don’t know you know how much more time would be required, but I think it’s fair to say that it’s going to take some more time, and we should at least extend the continuing resolution to allow for that,” Thune said Tuesday, according to Deseret News.
Late on Monday night, Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released a statement seeking more information about the counteroffer.
“Republicans shared an outline of a counterproposal, which included neither details nor legislative text,” the statement read.
“The initial GOP response is both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct. Democrats await additional detail and text,” it continued.
However, Schumer said on Tuesday that “there’s no reason we can’t get this done by Thursday,” Fox News reported.
In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson wants to see a proposal that takes the funding all the way through to the end of the fiscal year, similar to other government funding bills that were signed into law by President Donald Trump last week.
As part of a deal to avert a longer shutdown, the DHS funding was split from the rest of the spending package, instead of being approved as a continuing resolution until Feb. 13.
“We’ve not moved a CR here because our position is, the Senate should pass the House-passed homeland bill. We got it done. We did the work in the House, and I think they should — they should get that through,” Johnson told reporters, according to The Hill.
“So us offering a CR would be a concession that we don’t believe in that product.” Johnson is referring to the fact that the House had already approved a spending package before the split in funding on the Senate side, as Democrats called for the split after the Alex Pretti shooting in Minneapolis amid anti-ICE protests in the region.
The changes Democrats are hoping for range from more body cameras, no more masking for agents, and the use of judicial warrants as opposed to administrative warrants. The Daily Wire reported earlier this week that some of the requests were already slammed as non-starters by some Republican lawmakers. DHS includes other agencies outside of immigration enforcement, including FEMA and TSA, which could have broader implications if it is not funded after Friday.
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