{"id":4023,"date":"2026-03-12T08:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/4023\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T08:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:45:19","slug":"senators-vent-frustration-over-dhs-shutdown-as-lines-grow-at-nations-airports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/4023\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators vent frustration over DHS shutdown as lines grow at nation’s airports"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Republican and Democratic senators vented their frustrations Wednesday with the lack of progress in funding the Department of Homeland Security, which is resulting in more Americans enduring long lines<\/a> at airports around the country. It\u2019s a problem that is expected to intensify as the impasse enters its fourth week.<\/p>\n

Democrats stressed they were willing to fund some of DHS, but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection, without changes in their operations. Republicans made clear that some of the Democratic demands were a non-starter. The result was that each party blocked the other\u2019s proposal for temporarily resolving the standoff during an hourslong debate on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

The stark divide over a shutdown that began on Feb. 14 was acknowledged by members on both sides of the political aisle. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a negotiation. However, we are not close,\u201d Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said at one point. \u201cYou may think this is some issue that we think we\u2019re going to turn to our political advantage, but I promise you, when we saw Renee Good and Alex Pretti<\/a> killed, this became an issue that was beyond politics.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there are a lot of us who are not going to provide resources to this agency that is acting in such a ways that makes citizens of the United States so unsafe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Republicans were just as adamant that they oppose some of the changes Democrats are seeking to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be clear, we are going to do nothing \u2014 nothing \u2014 that kneecaps ICE\u2019s ability to enforce our immigrations laws,\u201d said Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.<\/p>\n

Following the longest federal shutdown in the country\u2019s history last year, Congress completed work on 11 of this year\u2019s 12 appropriations bills. Only the bill for Homeland Security remains outstanding.<\/p>\n

Democrats are seeking several changes at the department that include prohibiting ICE enforcement operations at sensitive locations like schools and churches, allowing independent investigations into alleged wrongdoing, requiring warrants to be signed by judges before federal agents can forcibly enter private homes or other nonpublic spaces without consent, and requiring agents to wear identification and remove their masks.<\/p>\n

A push for more talks<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said his side has made repeated overtures to Democrats on a funding bill. He said the last offer on Homeland Security funding came from the White House nearly two weeks ago and there has been no response from the Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, around here, in order to get a deal, there has to be a negotiation where the two sides sit down together,\u201d Thune said. \u201cAnd my understanding is that has been completely rebuffed by the senator from Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senator Thune was referring to, Sen. Patty Murray, the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she\u2019s continued to talk with Republican colleagues, but those aren\u2019t \u201creal negotiations.\u201d The White House needs to be at the table for that to occur. She said she needed assurance that Stephen Miller, the influential White House deputy chief of staff, would not upend any agreements that senators reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am willing to talk to people, but I\u2019m not willing to sit in a room, have coffee, give away a few things and have Stephen Miller override whatever we all agree to,\u201d Murray said. \u201c \u2026 We need to know the White House is serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

DHS has been central to President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping changes in immigration enforcement. Under Trump, the number of people ICE arrests and detains each month has climbed dramatically. The tactics that ICE has employed have generated alarm among Democrats, and some Republicans have also called for a more \u201cstrategic\u201d approach. <\/p>\n

During bipartisan negotiations earlier this year, appropriators agreed to a DHS funding bill that did include more resources for de-escalation training and $20 million to outfit immigration enforcement agents with body-worn cameras. But that deal unraveled after the Pretti shooting in Minneapolis. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy side was not going to stand down and say, \u2018oh well, nothing happened,\u2019\u201d Murray said. <\/p>\n

For the second time in two weeks, Murray offered a proposal to fund all of DHS except for ICE and Customs and Border Protection, but Republicans objected.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., offered a proposal to fund all of DHS for two weeks so that federal workers could get paid and government operations could continue while the two sides negotiate their differences on immigration enforcement. This time, Democrats objected.<\/p>\n

The result was the standoff continues, but lawmakers were at least talking to each other, perhaps one small sign of progress.<\/p>\n

Shutdown strains air travel<\/p>\n

The large majority of the more than 260,000 employees at DHS continue to work but are going unpaid. It\u2019s the second time in recent months they\u2019ve had to work without pay after last fall\u2019s record, 43-day shutdown<\/a>. The most visible sign of the shutdown has been a shortage of Transportation Security Administration screeners at airports.<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s secondary airport weathered<\/a> the worst problems, with lines consistently lasting over three hours for much of Sunday and Monday. Passengers also had to wait more than an hour to get through security at several other airports, including in New Orleans and Atlanta. <\/p>\n

DHS in a social media post Wednesday blamed Democrats for a shutdown that \u201chas led to HOURS long security lines at airports across the country, leading Americans to miss their spring break flights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trade groups are also worried about the economic impact of the travel delays. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called on Congress to quickly approve a funding bill and end the department\u2019s shutdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlocking operational funding and paychecks for those who help us travel safely is wrong and strains the air travel system,\u201d said Neil Bradley, the business group\u2019s executive vice president and chief policy officer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Republican and Democratic senators vented their frustrations Wednesday with the lack of progress in funding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[156,168,3374,112,432,1790,38,1996,1448,960,50,115,3373,8,366,161,621,3371,3372,9,3369,67,157,3370,7,363,165,2495,54],"class_list":{"0":"post-4023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-alex-pretti","9":"tag-border-security","10":"tag-brian-schatz","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-congress","13":"tag-district-of-columbia","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-eric-schmitt","16":"tag-finance","17":"tag-finance-business","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-government-and-politics","20":"tag-government-budgets","21":"tag-headlines","22":"tag-houston","23":"tag-immigration","24":"tag-john-thune","25":"tag-katie-britt","26":"tag-neil-bradley","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-patty-murray","29":"tag-politics","30":"tag-renee-good","31":"tag-stephen-miller","32":"tag-top-stories","33":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","34":"tag-u-s-department-of-homeland-security","35":"tag-u-s-government-shutdown","36":"tag-u-s-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}