Thune steamrolls Dems' DHS revolt as Fetterman defects, Schumer under pressure
Senate Republicans are moving ahead with a behemoth funding package in their bid to keep the government open and hope to blast through Democratic opposition in the process. Senate Appropriations...
By Fox News · Fox News
Senate Republicans are moving ahead with a behemoth funding package in their bid to keep the government open and hope to blast through Democratic opposition in the process. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Monday teed up the first procedural step for the six-bill funding package, which includes the politically divisive Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill, despite warnings from Senate Democrats that they would block the legislation. Monday’s action is just the first of several hurdles lawmakers will have to overcome, but important nonetheless given the extreme weather that rocked much of the country and threatened to delay the process altogether. SENATE DEMOCRATS THREATEN SHUTDOWN BY BLOCKING DHS FUNDING AFTER MINNESOTA ICE SHOOTING Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s, R-S.D., gamble comes as a Friday deadline to fund the government is bearing down on the Senate. Passing the package and sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk would fully fund the government until September, when lawmakers will again need to have passed a dozen spending bills to keep the lights on. But the immediate fight and one that threatens to derail the GOP’s plan to avert yet another shutdown is over DHS funding. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., and his caucus have come out en masse against the broader package, including the Homeland funding bill, following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday. Schumer and Senate Democrats rapidly mobilized their opposition to the funding bill, despite maintaining a fragile truce with the GOP in their bipartisan government funding negotiations over the last two days. KEY SENATOR WON'T FUND DHS AS ICE, FEDERAL AGENTS ENTER HIS STATE Despite shoring up a largely unified front, including several moderate Senate Democrats who crossed the aisle to help Republicans reopen the government last year, Schumer does have one perennial defector. Sen. John Fet…