{"id":19956,"date":"2026-03-13T08:47:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T08:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/one-month-later-the-dhs-shutdown-shows-no-signs-of-ending\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T08:47:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T08:47:27","slug":"one-month-later-the-dhs-shutdown-shows-no-signs-of-ending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/one-month-later-the-dhs-shutdown-shows-no-signs-of-ending\/","title":{"rendered":"One month later, the DHS shutdown shows no signs of ending"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Top Democrats and White House officials are nowhere near close to a breakthrough in negotiations to end the Homeland Security shutdown as the funding lapse is due to hit its one-month mark Saturday and real pain begins.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been more than two weeks since the White House laid out its latest proposal for restoring full Department of Homeland Security operations alongside changes to the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement tactics, and Democrats have yet to send a formal counteroffer in the negotiations spurred by the fatal shootings by federal agents in January of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

TSA screeners are now missing their first full paychecks of the shutdown, which could lead to more agents skipping work or quitting \u2014 and exacerbate already-lengthy wait times at airport security checkpoints throughout the country. Republicans think this could be the breaking point where Democrats relent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hopeful that as you see these problems at the airports, that the public will start talking to Democrats,\u201d said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.).<\/p>\n

But Democrats have a legislative rebuttal: Bills that would fully fund TSA and other parts of DHS that are casualties of the larger immigration standoff. Republicans have repeatedly objected over the last two weeks when Democrats asked for votes on those bills on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

“Who\u2019s standing in the way? America, look at it,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019re not putting any preconditions on funding TSA; the Republicans are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration remains in \u201cfrequent\u201d communication with senior Democratic lawmakers, according to one senior White House official granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Another White House official said the president\u2019s team \u201cremains interested in continuing conversations with Democrats about ways to end this shutdown\u201d but that \u201cDemocrats, regrettably, have chosen to punish the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet since the DHS shutdown began Feb. 14, Democrats on Capitol Hill say the administration has been unwilling to make any significant changes to its immigration enforcement tactics, while Republicans insist that the White House has in fact offered Democrats a deal they would be foolish not to take. Amid finger-pointing and deep distrust, there\u2019s no sign the impasse will anytime soon.<\/p>\n

On both sides, negotiators have been careful not to divulge the details of the offers each party is representing very differently. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in an interview this week that she \u201cwould like to see the Democrats actually read what the White House sent. It is an eminently reasonable proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate\u2019s top Democratic appropriator, Washington Sen. Patty Murray, suggested Thursday this wasn\u2019t the case. She also said that while people outside the negotiations are \u201cguessing\u201d at the contents of the recent White House framework, ultimately \u201cwords matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can have money for body cameras, but not require them \u2014 two very different things,\u201d she said of GOP claims about what has been proposed. \u201cI don’t want to characterize anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats are demanding new policies that would prohibit federal immigration agents from wearing masks, require officers to display identification and ensure that agents would be barred from detaining people in certain places, such as churches and schools. Democrats also aren\u2019t budging on the demand that ICE obtain judicial warrants for making arrests.<\/p>\n

Growing impatient as the shutdown stretches on, several Republican senators have tried to start up negotiations with their Democratic counterparts, despite GOP leaders initially deferring to the White House to handle dealmaking with the minority party.<\/p>\n

Democrats have largely rebuffed those entreaties, however, arguing such talks could result in giving ground to congressional Republicans only to then see the White House renege on commitments. Democrats are especially worried about being railroaded by Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and the architect of President Donald Trump\u2019s hard-line immigration agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings go back to the White House, and Stephen Miller, who\u2019s an extremist, says \u2018no,\u2019\u201d Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Shaheen and other lawmakers have suggested it could be helpful for the White House to deputize a lead negotiator \u2014 but not Miller.<\/p>\n

\u201cStephen Miller has a view that is outside of the American mainstream, and so it\u2019s gonna be hard,\u201d said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) in an interview. \u201cIf Susie Wiles were in charge of the discussion, that would be a different conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiles, who has served as White House chief of staff for more than a year, is involved in the talks, according to one senior White House official. But that official said talks toward a DHS funding deal are also led by Trump himself and a team headed by James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no blueprint to this,\u201d the official said of the ongoing talks. \u201cThere\u2019s multiple people working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the days following the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran, Republicans cited an increased risk of terrorist attacks in calling on Democrats to vote for restoring full DHS operations. But the argument did not shake loose any additional Democratic support, including on Thursday when Senate Majority Leader John Thune forced a procedural vote<\/u><\/a> on the House-passed DHS funding bill.<\/p>\n

A more tangible pressure point than a theoretical attack on U.S. soil could be further disruption to civilian air travel. The longer a shutdown goes on, the more disgruntled TSA agents will become, since they are forced to work without pay. TSA divulged this week that about 300 security screeners have quit since funding lapsed last month \u2014 and the workforce is poised to miss a full paycheck for the first time this shutdown.<\/p>\n

In Denver, airport officials asked the public<\/u><\/a> this week to donate $10 and $20 gift cards to help TSA agents pay for groceries and gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the pain goes from the poor TSA agents \u2014 who deserve to be paid, and whose families deserve to have them paid \u2014 when that pain gets translated to travelers, it gets worse,\u201d Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said in an interview. \u201cAnd that’s what we sure hope we can avoid in the next few days or week or two.\u201d<\/p>\n

While security lines grow longer at U.S. airports, news coverage of ICE and CBP agents detaining people in the interior of the country has declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe further and further that we get away from January and the events that occurred in January, then the less and less leverage Democrats are going to have \u2014 and the more you may have issues at airports,\u201d said a person close to the White House. \u201cThat\u2019s going to put pressure on Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Trump administration has stemmed the impact of the shutdown on most of the DHS workforce by bankrolling paychecks with money from the party-line tax and spending package Republicans enacted last summer. That includes pay for law enforcement officers at the Secret Service and active duty members of the Coast Guard.<\/p>\n

DHS can also sustain work at ICE and CBP with the more than $100 billion Republicans delivered for those agencies within the party-line legislation last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats aren\u2019t even shutting down what they have a problem with,\u201d said another person close to the White House. \u201cFor the defenders of government workers and minorities, I think it\u2019s wild that Democrats are withholding paychecks from TSA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Trump administration officials contend that the law does not allow funding from the GOP megabill to be used for TSA paychecks.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly way to get TSA paid is for Democrats to vote to reopen the government and not hold this key funding hostage,\u201d said a senior administration official not authorized to speak publicly about interpretation of the law.<\/p>\n

Stewart Verdery, who served as a DHS assistant secretary under former President George W. Bush, said he would be surprised if the Trump administration tried to find a way to pay TSA agents as the lapse drags on.<\/p>\n

\u201cTSA agents not getting paid is a very visible signal of the situation Democrats are creating,\u201d Verdery said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not sure why you\u2019d want to solve it yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the Trump administration, congressional Republicans have also been unwilling to alleviate that pressure point by funding TSA and other DHS operations while leaving ICE and Customs and Border Protection hanging. Increasingly, Democrats are continuing to showcase that GOP resistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can\u2019t move forward funding the entire department, sitting down and negotiating in good faith \u2014 which you\u2019ve had plenty of time to do already \u2014 we should be able to come together to pay the hardworking staff of one of its most essential components: TSA,\u201d Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said on the floor this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalk is easy,\u201d she continued, questioning whether GOP senators would \u201cback up what they say with their vote.\u201d Republicans objected.<\/p>\n

Eli Stokols contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top Democrats and White House officials are nowhere near close to a breakthrough in negotiations to end the Homeland Security shutdown as the funding lapse is due to hit its one-month mark Saturday and real pain begins. It\u2019s been more than two weeks since the White House laid out its latest proposal for restoring full […]<\/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-19956","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\/19956","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=19956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19956\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}