A sizable number of Senate Democrats haven’t ruled out another short-term funding punt for the Department of Homeland Security.
Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer sent a formal wishlist of DHS policy changes Wednesday to GOP leaders Mike Johnson and John Thune. But Republicans have little interest in their ideas, with leaders hinting at the need for another continuing resolution to buy more time for talks.
— Dodging the question: “We need to keep as many options on the table as possible,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told reporters when asked whether she would rule out a CR.
Shaheen was one of the eight Senate Democrats who voted to help Republicans end the record government shutdown last fall. Some other senators in that group also didn’t give direct answers Wednesday on whether they’d support a second DHS stopgap — a stark contrast to many fellow Democrats, who immediately rejected the idea.
Most of the eight Democrats instead noted there’s more than a week before the funding cliff arrives.
“As soon as you say [another CR], you can bet it’ll take another two, three weeks to reach a conclusion,” Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, told Calen. “We can fix this problem. We’ve got enough time to do it by the 13th of this month.”
“We’re going to give [Republicans] a proposal and they should say yes to it,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told POLITICO. Asked if he’d help move another funding patch if Republicans object to their pitches, Kaine said, “I won’t say past that.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) also did not respond directly to questions about whether she’d support another DHS CR.
— The brewing CR length fight: Another stopgap to buy time for more talks is one thing; a full-year CR like what Thune is floating is another.
Democrats want to force the White House and Republicans into a deal in the next few days. They are opposed to a year-long measure that would keep the status quo at DHS and allow the administration more leeway in how it uses money for ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
Some Democrats who plan to attend Thursday morning’s National Prayer Breakfast are hoping to talk directly with Trump about his immigration agenda and the recent killings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota at the hands of federal agents.
Thune is open to another two-week measure, but said “it may be the best way to deal with this particular appropriations bill is do a year-long CR, if that’s what it takes.” Keep an eye on whether the majority leader starts laying the procedural groundwork for a CR before the Senate adjourns Thursday.
While Johnson is “optimistic” there will be a DHS deal, he told POLITICO he was “neither ruling it in or out” when it comes to a short-term CR.
“I don’t make any projections on that,” Johnson added about the possibility of a full-year CR for DHS.
What else we’re watching:
— The likely next member of the House: New Jersey voters Thursday will pick Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s likely successor in Congress in the first congressional Democratic primary election of the 2026 midterms.
Eleven Democrats are vying in a special election primary to fill the reliably-blue 11th District seat. Among the front-runners is former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who represented the 7th District for two terms before he lost the 2022 race to Republican Rep. Tom Kean.
Mia McCarthy, Meredith Lee Hill and Timothy Cama contributed to this report.
