Mike Johnson Pressures Democrats To End DHS Funding Standoff Threatening Federal Pay

Top Republicans on Capitol Hill have spent 10 weeks struggling to end a bitter stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

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CNews

Congressional Republicans return to DC Monday evening with a slew of contentious votes ahead that have fiercely divided the party, including the critical DHS funding measure.

CNN

CNN reports DHS has so far paid staff out of a previously approved $10 billion rainy day fund that aides warn will be depleted soon.

CNN says the expectation is that staffers would receive only one more paycheck from that fund before it runs out.

Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that “We have to move DHS funding because it’s urgent,” adding “We are out of money. He is out of money at the end of this week.”

Johnson also said, “Democrats have been playing games with this. It’s very dangerous as demonstrated Saturday night. We got to get the job done,” in remarks CNN attributed to him.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN he is willing to work with House Republicans on technical changes to the bill, but suggested anything beyond a “technical fix” would not be workable.

The DHS funding fight is being reshaped by events in Minneapolis, where Alex Pretti was killed by Border Patrol agents, and where Democrats say the violence is tied to the DHS immigration policy they oppose.

Le HuffPost reports that as American lawmakers were about to definitively adopt the federal budget for fiscal year 2026, the risk of budget paralysis threatening to shut down institutions returned “like a boomerang this Thursday, January 29.”

La Tribune

Le HuffPost ties the renewed crisis to “the death of Alex Pretti, an American shot by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.”

The outlet says the Homeland Security (DHS) budget was approved in a very close vote (220 to 207) and describes earlier relief after a record 43-day shutdown in October and November last year.

Le HuffPost says “Saturday morning, in Minneapolis, Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents.”

It reports that the DHS bill would be allocated $64.4 billion, including $10 billion for ICE, and that Democrats blocked the vote on the “package” of six bills.

Le HuffPost quotes Catherine Cortez Masto saying, “I will not support the current Department of Homeland Security funding bill,” and Mark Warner saying, “This violent crackdown must stop. I cannot vote to fund the DHS as long as this government continues to pursue this violent policy in our cities.”

CNews says several Democratic senators announced on Saturday, January 25 that they would vote against the budget bill next week because it includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

“United States: Risk of a Shutdown After the Death of Civilians in Minneapolis latribune”

La Tribune

CNews quotes Chuck Schumer warning, “Senate Democrats will not cast their votes for these texts if DHS funding is included.”

CNews quotes Catherine Cortez Masto denouncing an administration that “put undertrained and belligerent federal agents on the streets without accountability,” and it quotes Mark Warner saying, “brutal repression must stop.”

CNews quotes Warner: “I cannot vote, and I will not vote to fund the DHS while this administration continues its violent power grabs in our cities,” and it says 60 votes out of 100 are needed to pass a budget bill.

CNews warns that if Congress fails to pass a budget before the deadline, the federal government would go into a shutdown with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed.

La Tribune reports the funding expires on January 31 and says Democrats are refusing to approve the text because of DHS funding.

La Tribune adds that the death in Minneapolis came almost three weeks after Renee Good, also 37, was killed by a federal agent in the same city.

CNN says Speaker Mike Johnson is refusing to take up a Senate-approved measure that would reopen much of DHS.

CNN reports Johnson is refusing to put a bill on the floor to reopen agencies like TSA and FEMA and quotes Johnson calling the Senate version “problematic language” and “haphazardly drafted.”

CNN

CNN says the remarks confused even some Republicans because Johnson described DHS funding as critical but refused to put that partial funding bill on the floor.

CNN reports Thune is willing to work with House Republicans on technical changes to fund the rest of DHS, if needed to get the bill over the finish line almost a month after the Senate unanimously passed it.

CNN includes Thune saying “I think anything they do beyond that, you can’t — this has just got to be a straight up technical thing.”

CNN describes a broader feud in which conservatives are enraged that Thune bowed to Democratic demands to only partially fund DHS without money for immigration enforcement.

CNN says Saturday’s gunfire at a high-profile annual event complicated talks and reports Rep. Chip Roy of Texas demanded funding for a “secure ballroom” on White House grounds.

Le HuffPost says Congress has until midnight Friday, Washington time, to reach an agreement, or the United States would face only a partial shutdown.

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CNews

Le HuffPost says that if the six-budget-law package not voted on forces affected agencies to close, six others have been voted since the last shutdown, including the Interior, Commerce, Agriculture departments.

La Tribune

Le HuffPost describes Schumer’s allies pushing to separate the appropriations bill for DHS from the rest of the package, while saying the DHS budget cannot be changed since its vote in the House of Representatives.

Le HuffPost reports Democrats want the DHS budget to enable better oversight of immigration agents, including “end arrest quotas,” “visible identification of agents with a ban on wearing masks,” and “the introduction of body-worn cameras.”

CNews warns that if Congress fails to pass a budget before the deadline, the federal government would go into a shutdown with hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed.

La Tribune reiterates that when Congress fails to pass a budget by the deadline, the federal government enters a shutdown and notes the longest precedent dates back to last November.

Across the accounts, the Minneapolis deaths remain the political trigger for Democrats’ refusal, with Le HuffPost saying Democrats threatened to block the budget package without a change to the DHS bill and CNews quoting Schumer’s statement about DHS funding.