Moderate Senate Democrat Says He ‘Absolutely’ Expects a Partial Shutdown

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, a key moderate who has occasionally crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans, said that he is expecting another partial government shutdown in the coming days after disagreements over reforms for the Department of Homeland Security.

“I absolutely would expect that it’s going to shut down,” Fetterman said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“We, the Democrats, we provided ten kinds of basic things, and then the Republicans pushed back quickly saying that’s a Christmas wish list, and that they’re nonstarters,” he added. “I truly don’t know what specifically are the Democrats’ red lines that it has to be, [they’re] certainly not going to get all 10.”

Partisan disagreements over DHS funding and potential agency reforms come after the Trump administration has deployed thousands of immigration agents to predominantly Democratic-run cities across the country as part of the president’s aggressive mass deportation campaign.

Following the shooting deaths of two American citizens at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis last month, Democrats began to call for changes to the DHS funding and reforms to the way it handles immigration enforcement. Lawmakers were able to strike a deal recently on funding for other agencies that also included a two-week extension for DHS, which is set to expire on Friday and trigger a shutdown of the department.

Last week, Democratic leaders said they would not agree on a funding plan for DHS without concrete reforms to the agency. Democrats laid out 10 reforms, including restricting federal agents from wearing masks, mandating the use of body cameras and identification, as well as tightening warrant guidelines.

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he would not cave on any of Democrats’ demands.

“In our view, the ball is in the court right now of the Republicans,” Jeffries said. “Either they’re going to agree to dramatically reform the way in which ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies are conducting themselves so that they’re behaving like every other law enforcement agency in the country, or they’re making the explicit decision to shut down the Coast Guard, shut down FEMA, and shut down TSA, and that would be very unfortunate.”