DHS funding fight drives Senate scramble to avoid government shutdown
The Senate is rumbling toward a likely successful vote on a package of three funding bills, but it’s what comes next that some lawmakers are worried about.The upper chamber is...
By Fox News · Fox News
The Senate is rumbling toward a likely successful vote on a package of three funding bills, but it’s what comes next that some lawmakers are worried about. The upper chamber is expected to pass a three-bill funding package, known as a minibus, later this week. That would bring the total number of funding bills passed by Congress to six. But it’s halfway to the magic dozen that are needed to fund the government, and one bill in particular is giving lawmakers heartburn on their quest to avoid another government shutdown . TRUMP RIPS INTO GOP DEFECTORS AS 'REAL LOSERS' AS SENATE READIES FOR FINAL VOTE Among the annual spending bills is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill, which has become a political lightning rod in the wake of Renee Nicole Good’s death in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-related shooting. Some Senate Democrats want to use it to leverage more oversight at DHS, specifically for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). That sticky wicket could cause the bill to never actually come to the floor — it was nixed from a recently released spending package from the House earlier this week. That means it could land in a short-term funding extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR). SENATE ADVANCES $174B PACKAGE AS MINNESOTA ICE SHOOTING FUELS DHS FUNDING FIGHT Senate Majority Leader John Thune , R-S.D., acknowledged just how difficult that bill was to advance, even under more typical circumstances, and predicted that it could lead to a CR to keep the government open. "Homeland is obviously the hardest one, and it's possible that, if we can't get agreement, that there could be some sort of a CR that funds some of these bills into next year," Thune said. While Thune remained hopeful that, over the next three weeks, Congress could pass the remaining spending bills, the reality of the discourse regarding the DHS bill is now front and center in the simmering spending fight. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y…