So This Is What Happens When Dems Don’t Cave…

At 2:20 a.m. on Friday morning, Senate Republicans finally caved on a funding package for the Department of Homeland Security that excludes funds for ICE and CBP, thus moving to end the 42-day partial government shutdown. It’s a pleasant reminder of what could happen when Dems aren’t 100% spineless—but where was this fighting spirit before at least three Americans were killed by ICE goons????

Lawmakers missed the deadline to pass a DHS funding package on Jan. 30 because Dems rightly refused to give ICE (which more Americans than ever support abolishing) even more funding—unless agents agreed to stop wearing masks and start showing identification. They also wanted tougher warrant requirements for immigration-related searches and arrests.

The vote came right before Congress heads into a two-week recess starting Friday, and right after Trump said he’d sign an order to immediately get new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay TSA workers, Truth Social’ing that he wants to “quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports.” It’s sure different than the tune he was singing last week (“Keep fighting for the USA. GO TO WORK!”), but I’m sure the TSA officers who had to sell their blood to survive the last few months without pay appreciated the gesture. 

“We’ve been trying for weeks to fund the whole thing, and I mean, in the end, this is what they were willing to agree to,” Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters on Friday. He blamed Dems for the shutdown (classic), saying, “President Trump should never have had to step in to rescue TSA workers and U.S. air travel. We are here because, thanks to Democrats’ determined refusal to reach an agreement, there will be no Homeland Security funding bill this year.” Don’t threaten us with a good time!

Meanwhile, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he’s “very proud” of Dems, (if only this were him in October), saying, “In the wake of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Senate Democrats were clear: no blank check for a lawless ICE and border patrol.” He added, “This could have been done three weeks ago. This is exactly what we wanted.”

The bill was Schumer’s latest counterproposal to a House-backed bill that was approved in a 218-206 vote on Thursday, which did not have any clear ICE reforms. Four Dems voted for it—Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas.); Don Davis (N.C.); Jared Golden (Maine), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.).

An early draft of the funding legislation allocated the traditional $10 billion to ICE—but thanks to Trump’s One Big Hateful Bill, ICE also received more than $75 billion in 2025—thus padding it with protections from the funding lapse, which is probably part of the reason they got paid to clog airport security lines for most of the week. 

The funding bill will now go to the lower chamber, giving House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) another big job this week besides awarding Trump with some phony trophies. 

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