A debate over immigration and ending the Department of Homeland Security shutdown spilled over onto the Senate floor late Wednesday, as Transportation Security Administration agents are among the DHS employees who will miss their first full paychecks this week.
Airports have recently buckled under the funding gap, with travelers suffering through long lines at security checkpoints as agents call out of work rather than toil without pay.
The rhetorical battle on the Senate floor that resulted in no changes came weeks into a shutdown at DHS that began Feb. 14. Democrats are demanding new restrictions on immigration enforcement as a condition for funding the agency, after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Republicans — backed by President Donald Trump — are not interested in policy changes as a condition of funding the agency.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., proposed funding only the TSA, Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, while lawmakers continue to debate funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, the subagencies that deal with immigration enforcement.
