{"id":18345,"date":"2026-01-28T21:02:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/senate-democrats-float-dhs-changes-in-shutdown-stalemate\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T21:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:02:02","slug":"senate-democrats-float-dhs-changes-in-shutdown-stalemate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/senate-democrats-float-dhs-changes-in-shutdown-stalemate\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Democrats float DHS changes in shutdown stalemate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Senate Democrats on Wednesday revealed the DHS restrictions they need in exchange for helping Republicans avert a shutdown Friday night, including the tightening of rules on warrants.<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outlined the asks after a closed-door caucus meeting, telling reporters that Democrats were united around \u201ccommon sense and necessary policy goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The list \u2013 featuring several demands previously reported by POLITICO<\/a> \u2014 also included a prohibition on agents using masks, mandates for body cameras and IDs and a \u201cuniform code of conduct and accountability,\u201d including requiring independent investigations of incidents like Saturday\u2019s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans must work with Democrats to find legislative solutions,\u201d Schumer said.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s caucus meeting was the first time Senate Democrats had gathered in person and talked strategy since the killing of Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

The shooting and the initial response by top administration officials have fueled widespread calls for changes to the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement strategy. On Capitol Hill, it has upended the debate over government funding ahead of Friday\u2019s midnight shutdown deadline.<\/p>\n

The Senate will vote Thursday on a six-bill package that would fund several departments, including DHS. But Democrats have demanded that Senate Majority Leader John Thune strip out the DHS bill and negotiate new policy changes for immigration agencies. Senators are widely expecting the bill to fail to advance Thursday, which would force them to pivot to a Plan B. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere has to be accountability,\u201d Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said. \u201cThis is not like some wish list. This is like really practical, common sense stuff that would actually go a long way towards minimizing the harm that we\u2019re seeing in Minnesota right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans are loath to strip out the Department of Homeland Security bill because any changes to the funding package would require it to go back to the House, where GOP hardliners are already vowing to throw up roadblocks.<\/p>\n

Though talks have been ongoing between Senate Republicans, Democrats and the White House, Republicans have been waiting for Schumer to outline specifically what Democrats want.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s been overtures and attempts to try to connect on what they want and then see if it’s something the administration could accommodate without having to change the language of the bill,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters.<\/p>\n

But Schumer said the \u201cWhite House has had no specific, concrete ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without a deal to pass the funding package as is, a partial government shutdown will start Saturday. Privately, Republicans are hoping if there is a partial shutdown that they would be able to negotiate an off-ramp by Monday or early next week.<\/p>\n

Republicans have floated that the administration could take executive actions to address some of Democrats’ concerns.<\/p>\n

But Smith dismissed that Wednesday, adding, \u201cIf you believe that I\u2019ve got a bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Democrats on Wednesday revealed the DHS restrictions they need in exchange for helping Republicans avert a shutdown Friday night, including the tightening of rules on warrants. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outlined the asks after a closed-door caucus meeting, telling reporters that Democrats were united around \u201ccommon sense and necessary policy goals.\u201d The list […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18345\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}