The United States may be facing another government shutdown, in which federal agencies are forced to close because Congress cannot pass legislation to fund them.
It wasn’t always like that. At first, it looked like Friday’s deadline to pass the new spending package would pass without much fuss.
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But an impasse has emerged in the waning days before the deadline. The shift comes amid public outcry over the latest shooting deaths fueled by President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign.
In the days when immigration agents murdered an American citizen Alex Pretty On Saturday in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Democrats drew a strong line.
He has vowed to approve no funding increase for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the agencies leading Trump’s deportation campaign, unless they agree to put in place railings on the use of force.
On Thursday, U.S. Border Security Chief Tom Homan said immigration agents would change their approach in Minnesota but vowed to maintain them. constant presence in the state
Lawmakers in the Senate now have until midnight on Friday (05:00 GMT Saturday) to come up with a solution. Here’s how we got here and what happens next:
What is in the law?
Republicans would need to reach a 60-vote threshold in the 100-seat Senate to pass the funding legislation. He currently controls 53 seats, meaning he would need the support of at least seven members of the Democratic caucus.
All told, the legislation includes six separate bills to fund the Department of Defense, Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Treasury, and most notably, DHS.
All the bills are added to the $1.2 trillion package passed by the US House of Representatives last week. Without funding, essential services in those departments will grind to a halt.
Why not vote separately on DHS funding?
Any changes to the House-approved package — including a separate vote on DHS funding — must overcome lengthy procedural hurdles in the Senate.
After that, the legislation will have to go back to the House of Representatives for a fresh vote.
The House is currently in the middle of a weeklong recess, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, is unlikely to recall his chamber’s representatives to Washington for a second vote.
How much funding is there for DHS?
Compared to last year, the new spending package will add $400m more to the detention budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and $370m more to its enforcement budget.
That’s on top of the $170bn windfall for DHS included in last year’s sweeping tax-and-spending legislation known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”. About $75bn has been earmarked for ICE over the next four years.
Why is the fund controversial?
Rights are with lawyers protested The current funding bill provides yet more funding to ICE, which has been at the center of Trump’s deportation campaign.
Just this month, ICE has been linked to two high-profile shooting deaths in Minneapolis: the killing of Pretty on Saturday and the Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Nicole Goode. Both were US citizens.
Still, a handful of Democrats broke ties with their party to vote for the spending package. On January 22, seven Democrats supported the funding legislation, while 206 opposed it.
The vote was ultimately 220 to 207, with Republican Thomas Massey joining the majority of Democrats in opposition.
The latest budget battle comes less than three months after a record 43-day government shutdown ends on Nov. 12, 2025. Polls show that such disruptions are widely unpopular across the political spectrum.
What were the expectations until this week?
In the run-up to Friday’s shutdown deadline, Senate Democrats were bracing for a similar fracture among members of their party.
Fearing the political optics of a second government shutdown, many were expected to hold their noses in support of the spending bill.
On January 20, Democratic Senator Patty Murray argued against another government shutdown, calling it an ineffective tactic to stop ICE.
“ICE must be reined in, and unfortunately, neither (the continuing resolution) nor a shutdown will do anything to stop it, because thanks to Republicans, ICE is now sitting on a huge slush fund that we can either pass a funding bill or not,” she wrote in one. statement.
Murray urged her party to instead focus on winning the upcoming midterm elections. “The hard truth is that Democrats must win political power to enforce the accountability we need,” she said.
Why has the spirit of democracy changed?
Love’s killing on Saturday changed the dynamic for Democrats.
There was a flurry after the ICE shooting Unfounded claims By the Trump administration, accusing Pretty – a nurse who treats American veterans – of being a “domestic terrorist”. This, in turn, fueled further outrage over his death.
Senator Murray was among those who changed their stance in the wake of the assassination. Her reaction was unequivocal.
“I will not support the DHS bill as it stands,” she wrote in A Post On social media platform X. “Federal agents cannot kill people in broad daylight and face zero consequences.”
Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, also dropped earlier assurances that a shutdown would be avoided.
Senators from the left Catherine Cortez Masto, Jackie Rosen and Angus King have also announced they will not vote in favor of the funding bill, despite breaking from party caucuses to end the last shutdown in November.
In a Post On Wednesday X, Schumer showed little sign of income.
“In light of ICE’s abuses and administration’s recklessness, Senate Democrats will not pass the DHS budget without a rewrite,” he wrote.
Will the party remain united?
To date, only one Democrat — Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania — has committed to voting in favor of the funding package in the wake of Pretty’s murder.
However, the party has yet to present a list of demands to Republicans, who remain largely united against the shutdown, although some have expressed dismay at the events in Minnesota.
Reforms pushed by Democrats include requiring judicial warrants for immigration arrests, eliminating the Trump administration’s detainer quotas and mandating that federal agents unmask themselves and wear identification.
Other proposed measures include barring Border Patrol agents from deploying to the interior of the US and involving local and state authorities in use-of-force investigations.
State officials in Minnesota have complained in recent weeks that they have been shut out of the federal investigation into Good and Pretty’s murders.
While Trump has distanced himself from his administration’s comments calling Pretty a “terrorist,” his more harmonious tone Democracy has not extended to the authorities.
On Wednesday, he again blamed Democrats for stoking tensions in Minnesota and warned that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was “playing with fire” over his failure to follow through on his immigration policies.
Top Democrats, by contrast, have dismissed any promises of reform not codified into law.
“If the government shuts down again, it will be because congressional Republicans refuse to put the reins on this reckless president and the ICE agency,” Senator Dick Durbin said during a speech on the floor Wednesday.
“In the meantime, I urge my colleagues (DHS Secretary) Kristy Noem and her team to join us in that effort before another innocent life is taken.”