Feb. 12 (UPI) — The Department of Homeland Security likely will shut down early Saturday after Senate Democrats blocked a funding bill Thursday.
The Senate voted 52-47 to approve House Resolution 7147, which would have funded the department through Sept. 30. The House narrowly approved the measure Wednesday.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was the only Senate Democrat to vote in favor of the funding measure, which failed to muster the 60 votes needed to overcome the Senate’s filibuster rule.
Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota voted against the measure to keep open a procedural mechanism that would enable the Senate to quickly revisit the measure in a floor vote.
During floor debate, Thune said the House and Senate three weeks ago reached a bipartisan agreement that would fund Homeland Security for the remainder of the 2026 fiscal year that started Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30.
That agreement included requiring federal immigration enforcement officers to wear body cams and cease enforcement sweeps in favor of more targeted operations.
“It included funding for de-escalation training for ICE, and it included additional oversight for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol spending,” Thune said.
“And then Democrats reneged on the agreement,” he added. “And so, we are here.”
After defeating the funding measure, Senate Democrats in a statement “demanded Republicans get serious and work with Democrats to pass common sense reforms and rein in ICE and end the violence” that has occurred in Minneapolis.
“They need to sit down. They need to negotiate in good faith, produce legislation that actually reins in ICE and stops the violence,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday.
After the measure failed Thursday, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., proposed extending the current short-term extension of the agency’s 2025 funding that expires at the end of the day Friday.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., opposed that effort, which effectively ended it.
The Department of Homeland Security shutdown would affect the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Science and Technology Directorate, Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes visa applications.
It also would affect the Coast Guard, Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE and the CBP would not shut down, though, as both were funded for three years via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 and will continue enforcing federal immigration laws.
