Congress is running out of time to pass a sprawling appropriations package before current funding for much of the federal government expires at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday. Senate Democrats said they won’t support the bill without changes to the provisions regarding the Department of Homeland Security, raising the risk of a partial government shutdown this weekend.
What’s in the broader funding package?
The Senate needs to pass the remaining six of the 12 annual appropriations bills, which will keep the government open through September; the other six have already been signed into law by President Trump. The package covers roughly $1.3 trillion in discretionary spending, including funding for the Pentagon, the departments of Health and Human Services and Labor, as well as $64 billion for DHS—pairing Republican and Democratic priorities into a single vote.
Notably, the DHS funding includes $18.3 billion for Customs and Border Protection and $10 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and also money for the Coast Guard, airport security and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
What triggered the standoff?
The Republican-controlled House finished passing the half-dozen bills last week and bundled them together for the Senate to pass in one measure. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but need 60 votes to advance the bill due to Senate rules. Heading into the weekend, few Senate Democrats had any appetite for another shutdown and some were expected to provide the needed votes to approve the package and send it to Trump’s desk before the Jan. 31 deadline.
But the deadly shooting in Minneapolis of a 37-year-old man by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Saturday prompted widespread protests and renewed scrutiny of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics. In the wake of the shooting, Senate Democrats said they couldn’t back the DHS funding provisions without significant new restrictions and oversight written into the legislation. Significantly, even the Democrats who voted to end last year’s record-long spending lapse have signaled they will risk a new shutdown to force changes to the bill.
What are Democrats demanding?
Democrats want the DHS funding bill split off from the broader package so Congress can pass the other five spending measures while rewriting the homeland security provisions. They are pushing for constraints on immigration enforcement, increased oversight of DHS operations and limits on the use of federal agents in cities such as Minneapolis.
What will Republicans do?
Senate Republicans have said they plan to stick to the original plan to move forward with the full package, but some have indicated they are open to talks on resolving the standoff. Even if some compromise is reached and the Senate passes a deal in coming days, the House—currently on recess this week—would then need to return to Washington to approve it as well.
Who would be affected by a partial shutdown?
Since Congress has already enacted funding for six of the 12 annual appropriations bills, parts of the government would remain fully open, including the departments of Justice, Commerce, Agriculture, Interior and Veterans Affairs, among others.
But agencies without funding, including DHS and Pentagon, would enter a shutdown. That means nonessential government functions would pause, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers could be furloughed, while employees deemed essential would work without pay. All federal workers typically receive back pay once funding is restored. Critical services such as air-traffic control, border security and law enforcement would continue during a shutdown.
Would a partial shutdown affect tax-filing season?
As the deadline nears, the Internal Revenue Service hasn’t released an updated plan for how it would manage a shutdown during the tax-filing season. The IRS typically would try to keep more people at work during that period. The agency does still have some money from the Inflation Reduction Act that it could use to keep operations functioning even if its annual appropriations lapse.
This explanatory article may be periodically updated.
Write to Anvee Bhutani at anvee.bhutani@wsj.com