White House, Congress reach deal to avoid another federal government shutdown

WASHINGTON — An eleventh-hour deal was struck Thursday evening between Senate Democrats and Republicans and the White House to enable passage of bills needed to prevent a big portion of the U.S. government from shutting down on Saturday.

The agreement satisfies Democratic demands to delay action on a Department of Homeland Security funding bill for two weeks as lawmakers debate and negotiate language to rein in immigration enforcement tactics after the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

Senators are expected to vote Friday on the remaining five annual appropriations measures from the same package, while the Homeland Security Department’s current funding levels will be temporarily continued to Feb. 13, according to sources.

Funding for the agencies and departments under all of those six annual spending bills is set to dry up as of midnight Friday. The eventual deal to avert that from happening was cutting it close.

“I am working hard with Congress to ensure that we are able to fully fund the Government, without delay,” President Donald Trump posted on social media Thursday night. “Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed bipartisan “YES” vote.”

The other six of the 12 annual government spending bills already have been signed into law by Trump, and agencies covered by those measures would have stayed open.

Senate passage by Friday of the five bills — including attached language to ensure the 9/11 World Trade Center Health Program remains fully funded — would send the package back to the House to be finalized early next week.

House members are scheduled to return to session on Monday after a week away from Washington. There was no word to rank-and-file members late Thursday that they are expected to come back to DC earlier.

A shutdown would be technically averted because the White House Office of Management and Budget will not consider the government as being shut down over the weekend. 

Whether a deal ultimately can be struck on a final version of the Homeland Security bill is to play out over the next two weeks. The House, as well as the Senate, would have to pass a new version. And finding agreement on that could be difficult.

The Homeland Security bill carries the funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol and other subagencies that are carrying out Trump’s stepped-up immigration enforcement and deportation operations.

Democrats in the GOP-led House — in the aftermath of the fatal shooting death earlier this month in Minneapolis of Renee Good, mass protests and other controversies — tried and failed to add language to the bill to rein in some of the ICE tactics that have sparked controversy.

Long Island Democrats Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) were among seven Democrats who crossed lines to join Republicans in passing that bill without the guardrails and reforms sought by most of their party colleagues.

But after a second civilian shooting death in Minneapolis by federal agents, of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) were set to use the rules in that chamber to block passage of the Homeland Security bill and force modifications.

They are demanding stricter warrant requirements for federal immigration agents, introducing a uniformed code of conduct and requiring ICE agents to be unmasked and with operating body cameras, Schumer has said.

Democrats were prepared to block that bill from being passed unless those changes were made. To allow negotiations on those demands to continue, the deal Thursday split off that spending bill from the five others, so those other areas of government will be funded by the midnight Friday deadline.

Newsday's Laura Figueroa Hernandez contributed to this story.