Capitol agenda: Lawmakers brace for a DHS shutdown

Congress just launched itself onto a nine-day runway to overcome deep partisan divides over the fate of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda — and conditions are trending toward another lengthy shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security.

According to several senators, DHS funding talks were largely on hold while lawmakers waited for the House to clear the Senate-passed, five-bill spending package Tuesday and end the brief partial government shutdown. Now lawmakers have little time left before the Feb. 13 deadline to reach a bipartisan agreement on major changes to DHS policies and avoid a funding lapse that will also affect TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA and other agencies — and Democrats are threatening to block any extension of the two-week stopgap measure.

— A stalemate over demands: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that Democrats plan to formally present Republicans a proposal soon for placing more guardrails around ICE and Customs and Border Protection. The wishlist could include tighter rules on the use of warrants, a ban on masks and mandates for body cameras and IDs on federal agents.

There’s broad GOP opposition to many of these ideas. Speaker Mike Johnson argued Tuesday that unmasking would be especially dangerous for the agents.

“I can tell you that we are never going to go along with adding an entirely new layer of judicial warrants,” Johnson added. “It is unimplementable.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune believes negotiations will need to be primarily between Democrats and the White House, though Republicans will play a part. He said Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland funding panel, will take the lead for the GOP.

Republicans want to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities,” localities that don’t comply with federal immigration laws. Some are also mulling whether to try and attach bigger immigration provisions onto the DHS stopgap bill, like increasing penalties for immigrants who cross the border illegally.

But trying to crack down on “sanctuary cities” has long been a non-starter for Democrats. “We’re not going to make people unsafe, this is about making people safe,” said Washington Sen. Patty Murray, her chamber’s top Democratic appropriator.

— A slippery stopgap slope: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Tuesday that “an additional [continuing resolution], from our standpoint, is off the table” despite warnings from Thune and other Republicans that another short-term punt may be necessary to buy more time for talks.

Some lawmakers are increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for reaching any DHS deal given Congress’ perennial struggle to agree on immigration policy.

“I’m a little skeptical of the entire project here of trying to lard up an appropriations bill that funds critical agencies with a whole bunch of statutory restrictions,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said.

Thune warned there’s another possibility: If negotiations drag on too long, lawmakers could eventually be forced to swallow a measure that keeps the status quo at DHS for the remainder of the fiscal year with no policy changes or new funding levels.

“My assumption would be that even if we don’t have an agreement that we would do a CR for some foreseeable amount of time” to continue discussions, Thune told Blue Light News, “or maybe at some point we have to resolve to a full-year CR.”

What else we’re watching:   

— Tech hearing: House Judiciary will hold a hearing on Europe’s tech laws at 10 a.m. It’s the latest escalation in the transatlantic fight over regulations that Republicans claim disproportionately silence conservative speech online. European countries view the regulations as crucial guardrails for ensuring online safety and fair market competition, while American tech companies argue such measures target them unfairly.

Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill, Mia McCarthy and Gabby Miller contributed to this report.