told the Associated Press<\/a> that he might have some \u201ctough decisions\u201d over whether to bring the House in session over the weekend to pass the Senate-approved spending package.<\/p>\nA weekend shutdown would have little impact on agency operations.<\/p>\n
The IRS, however, told employees on Friday that all staff will be \u201cexempt from furlough\u201d through Saturday, Feb. 7, if the shutdown extends into next week. The agency began this year\u2019s tax filing season last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmployees should report to work on their regular schedules,\u201d the memo from the IRS chief human capital officer states.<\/p>\n
The IRS said it would operate normally using Inflation Reduction Act funds it received in August 2022 to rebuild its depleted workforce and modernize its legacy IT systems.<\/p>\n
The Senate passed a two-week continuing resolution for DHS and five spending bills that would fund large swaths of the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year.<\/p>\n
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Those five bills include funding the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, as well as several other agencies.<\/p>\n
The stopgap spending for DHS would give lawmakers more time to negotiate over guardrails on the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement operations, following the deaths of two protestors in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
Democrats called for new restrictions on the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement surge after Border Patrol agents on Jan. 24 fatally shot Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse working at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. Pretti\u2019s death took place two weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot another protester, Renee Good.<\/p>\n
The guardrails Democrats are pursuing include an end to \u201cindiscriminate\u201d patrols by immigration officials and a prohibition on ICE personnel entering people\u2019s homes without a judicial warrant. Democrats are also seeking body cameras and a ban on federal immigration officials covering their faces.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one thinks we\u2019re going to solve every problem, every single problem, in one fell swoop. But the American people are demanding that something gets done, and of course, to pass legislation and enshrine this into law. We need our Republican colleagues to come along with us,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday.<\/p>\n
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Thursday, \u201cthere has understandably been a great deal of attention focused on the Homeland Security portion\u201d of the spending package, adding the fatal shooting of Pretti \u201cmust be thoroughly and impartially investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collins said the DHS spending bill in its current form includes a provision that \u201cwould make such incidents as less likely to occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
That includes $20 million for body-worn cameras and $2 million to ensure that training requirements include how to de-escalate encounters with protesters. The bill also includes a provision that allows the DHS inspector general to review and investigate detention centers.<\/p>\n
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