WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are close to a deal with Democrats that would reopen the Department of Homeland Security following a shutdown that has lasted more than five weeks.
Following a meeting with President Trump Monday night, GOP lawmakers had tentatively agreed to move on a bill that would fund all the department’s functions outside of immigration enforcement and removal, a source familiar with discussions told The Post.
“Conversations are ongoing,” a White House official said Tuesday, “but this deal seems to be acceptable.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has yet to announce when the package will be put to a vote and end days of chaos at America’s airports due to Transportation Security Administration employees, who are paid by DHS, missing paychecks and skipping out on work, Punchbowl News first reported.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Thune told reporters Monday, adding that Democrats need to be “a willing partner” in discussions. “The White House meeting, I think, was very constructive.”
New urgency was given to the talks when a Canadian passenger plane collided with a fire truck on the runway of LaGuardia Airport late Sunday, killing both pilots and injuring more than 40 others.
Monday night, Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the party’s top appropriator in the Senate, huddled on the upper chamber’s floor following an Oval Office meeting with the president to discuss a compromise.
While some details need to be ironed out, the preliminary provisions would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its subagencies dealing with deportations as part of a separate budget reconciliation bill.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) was among those calling for Thune to follow this path late last week when talks between the GOP and Democrats reached an impasse.
“Sen. [Ted] Cruz [R-Texas] and I a few days ago came up with a two-step process,” Kennedy told Fox News Tuesday. “Step one: We would open up everything at DHS except ICE, including TSA, which the Democrats have already agreed to.
“And then we would fund ICE through reconciliation, which we could do only with Republican votes. We wouldn’t need any Democratic votes,” he added. “I talked to Sen. Thune last night and he says the president has reconsidered and may be on board.”
Democrats are still hoping for reforms to ICE operations, including requiring agents to go maskless, show identification and obtain judicial warrants for arrests inside of homes and businesses.
Universal body cameras for ICE officers was a concession that border czar Tom Homan noted was already being implemented, downplaying the need for Congress to force the agency into the practice.
“If Dems are going to insist on continuing to exclude EROs, it will be a hard sell to give them reforms that they’ve been trying to get,” one insider noted. “Everything is still fluid.”
The DHS shutdown stretched into its 38th day on Tuesday — after Trump indicated over the weekend that no funding bill would clear his desk without approval of a bill beefing up voter ID requirements for Americans via another piece of legislation known as the SAVE America Act.
The shift comes as Markwayne Mullin prepares to take over as DHS secretary next month after being confirmed by the Senate Monday night.
In a 54-45 vote, the former senator from Oklahoma was confirmed to take over DHS following the March 5 firing of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Noem’s mishandling of two fatal January shootings of American citizens by ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Minnesota had drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans.
Other Senate Republicans also called out her massive nine-figure spending on an ad campaign — starring herself — that she claimed the president personally authorized.
Trump denied having approved the $220 million promotional blitz and announced Noem’s departure from DHS for a role at the State Department.