DHS Shutdown Coincides With Senators’ Trip

With a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security all but guaranteed, many senators are leaving for a security conference in Europe without having passed a bill to fund the agency.

When the clock strikes midnight on Friday, the agency’s funding from a previous two-week stopgap extension will expire.

With no sign of consensus, the Senate has left town and Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., are leading a bipartisan delegation to the annual Munich Security Conference.

The group, per a press release from late Thursday night, includes Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Joni Ernst of Iowa, and Steve Daines of Montana. 

The Democrat section of the delegation is made up of Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Chris Coons of Delaware, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Jacky Rosen of New Mexico, Peter Welch of Vermont, Andy Kim of New Jersey, and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.

The trip comes after the Senate on Thursday failed to pass a homeland security agency funding extension, with nearly all Democrats voting against advancing it. 

Since the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Democrats have demanded to codify their policy wishes for the agency, such as forcing immigration enforcement agents to obtain judicial warrants to carry out deportations and prohibiting the use of masks by agents.

Senate rules require a 60-vote threshold to proceed to a final vote on the funding measure. In the 52-47 vote on Thursday, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was the only Democrat to vote to advance it.

Fetterman explained his decision to split with Democrats on X Thursday, saying, “I want to make the same changes that every other Democrat wants to make on ICE [Immigration Customs Enforcement], but ICE already has $75 billion in funding from the big, beautiful bill, that I did not vote for.”

Fetterman added of Democrats’ refusal to back a funding extension, “what it will shut down is important parts of DHS, whether that’s FEMA, whether that’s the Coast Guard… the cyber security agency in our nation. All of these are shut down.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Thursday that the Senate would still recess next week but he has told senators to “be available to get back here if there’s some sort of a deal they [Democrats] strike.”

Graham and Whitehouse’s offices did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation from The Daily Signal on whether any of the senators’ travel plans had changed.

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