Senate Republicans are moving forward with a massive funding package in their bid to keep the government open and hope to blow away Democratic opposition in the process.
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Monday took the first procedural step for the six-bill funding package, which includes the politically divisive Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill, despite warnings from Senate Democrats to block the legislation.
Monday’s action is only the first of many obstacles that the legislators will have to overcome, but it is nevertheless important due to the extreme weather that has blanketed much of the country and threatened to delay the process altogether.
Senate Democrats threaten shutdown by blocking DHS funding after Minnesota snowmobile shooting
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., balked at Senate Democrats’ demands that Republicans remove the DHS funding bill from a colossal funding package, moving forward with a procedural move to bring the legislation up for a vote later this week.
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The gamble by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., comes as a Friday deadline to fund the government is leaving the Senate. Passing the package and sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk would fully fund the government until September, when lawmakers will again need to pass a dozen spending bills to keep the lights on.
But the immediate fight and one that threatens to derail the GOP plan to avoid another shutdown is over DHS funding.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and his caucus have come out in droves against the broader package, including the Homeland funding bill, following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Schumer and Senate Democrats quickly mobilized their opposition to the funding bill, despite holding a fragile truce with the GOP in their bipartisan government funding negotiations over the past two days.
Top Senator Won’t Fund DHS As Snow, Federal Agents Enter His State
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., leaves after a vote at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 7, 2026.
Despite bolstering a largely unified front, including several moderate Senate Democrats who crossed the aisle to help Republicans reopen the government last year, Schumer has one perennial flaw.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has consistently opposed any attempt to shut down the government. He notably joined Senate Republicans more than a dozen times last year to reopen the government as his colleagues resisted.
And like those previous times, Fetterman is not eager to shut down the federal government, even though he agreed with Senate Democrats that the DHS bill should be removed from the broader package.
In a statement he noted that even the shutdown of the government affects the funding of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), since the colossal bill of the GOP, “one big, beautiful one” injected more than $ 170 billion during the next years in the DHS.
Senate Reps Revolt Against DHS Funding Bill Amid Minneapolis Chaos, Risk of Government Shutdown
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., rallied behind a plan to strip the DHS funding bill from a broader spending package, but Republicans aren’t biting.
“I reject calls to defund or defund ICE. I strongly disagree with many of the strategies and practices that ICE has deployed in Minneapolis, and I believe that should change,” Fetterman said. “I want a conversation about the DHS appropriations bill and I support getting rid of the minibus.”
“It is unlikely to happen, and our country will suffer another shutdown,” he continued. “We have to find a way forward, and I remain committed to being a voice of reason and common sense.”
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Fetterman and his colleagues want the DHS bill removed from the broader package and say they support those five remaining bills. But doing so would open up a procedural nightmare in the process and likely lead to a partial government shutdown, as the House would have to return from a one-week break to weigh it.
And as the latest foray into a possible shutdown, Schumer argued that the onus was on Thune and Senate Republicans, even though Senate Democrats negotiated the current funding package on a bipartisan basis.
“The responsibility to avoid a partial government shutdown is on Leader Thune and Senate Republicans,” Schumer said in a statement. “If Leader Thune puts those five bills on the floor this week, we can pass them right away. If not, the Republicans will be responsible for another government shutdown again.”
Original article source: Thune steamrolls Dems’ DHS revolt as Fetterman blunders, Schumer under pressure