Shutdown Showdown: Minneapolis Shooting Derails Senate Funding Deal as Clock Ticks Toward Government Closure

A partial government shutdown is increasingly likely this week after Senate Democrats announced their opposition to a major funding package following the deadly shooting of a Minneapolis man by federal agents, with only days left before the government’s funding deadline.

For weeks, lawmakers from both parties and both chambers have been working to approve individual appropriations bills ahead of the funding lapse scheduled for Friday, Jan. 30.

So far, six of the 12 annual appropriations bills have passed both the House and Senate and have been signed into law. The Senate had planned to consider the remaining six measures this week. Those bills cleared the House earlier this month and were bundled together to speed their passage through the Senate.

The unfinished package covers funding for the Departments of Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services and Education; Transportation and Housing and Urban Development; State; Treasury; and several other agencies. Critically, it also includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and Border Patrol.

That bundling is now causing friction in the Senate. After the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents, a wave of Senate Democrats said they would oppose any funding deal that includes DHS. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Saturday that Democrats would withhold the votes needed to advance the package if DHS funding remains part of it. With Republicans holding 53 seats, Democrats are required to reach the 60-vote threshold to move the legislation forward.

Even Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and helped negotiate an agreement to reopen the government during last year’s record-long shutdown, said he would not back a package that includes DHS funding.

“I hate shutdowns,” King said on “Face the Nation.”But I can’t vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under these circumstances.”

At the same time, King argued there is a straightforward solution. He suggested Senate Majority Leader John Thune split the DHS bill from the other five measures.

“If those bills pass, 96% of the federal government is funded,” King said. “Take up DHS by itself, let’s have an honest negotiation, put some guardrails on what’s going on, some accountability, and that would solve this problem.”

King’s proposal echoes calls from several Senate Democrats. Later Sunday, Schumer indicated Democrats would broadly support moving ahead with the other five funding bills while DHS funding is reconsidered.

“Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill,” Schumer said, describing that approach as the “best course of action.”

However, it remains unclear whether Senate Republicans are willing to remove DHS funding from the package, a step that would require unanimous consent. Entering the week, GOP leaders were expected to proceed with the funding plan as originally designed.

In the House last week, the DHS bill was considered separately after many Democrats said they could not support it without significant reforms to ICE, particularly after the first deadly shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis. Despite those objections, the measure ultimately gained the support of seven House Democrats.

House and Senate appropriators released the text of the DHS funding measure, along with three other appropriations bills, last week.

At the time, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrats overseeing appropriations, said the DHS bill represented progress, even as they acknowledged it did not go far enough to meet Democratic demands. They also argued that neither a temporary funding extension nor a shutdown would meaningfully limit ICE’s operations because of funding already allocated under last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, making alternative tactics ineffective.

In the end, DeLauro voted against the bill she helped negotiate, and Murray said she would do the same.

“Federal agents cannot murder people in broad daylight and face zero consequences,” Murray said in a post on X pledging to oppose the measure. “The DHS bill needs to be split off from the larger funding package before the Senate, Republicans must work with us to do that.”

Some Republicans have also spoken out following Saturday’s shooting. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana described the events in Minneapolis as “incredibly disturbing” and said the “credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake,” calling for a joint federal and state investigation. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina urged a “thorough and impartial investigation,” while Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said a “comprehensive, independent investigation of the shooting must be conducted in order to rebuild trust and Congressional committees need to hold hearings and do their oversight work.” Sens. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania and Jon Husted of Ohio later joined calls for an investigation.

Whether additional Republicans will go further remains uncertain.

Compounding the challenge for senators is a winter storm hitting Washington. Although the Senate was originally scheduled to return Monday to vote, weather delays have pushed the return to Tuesday afternoon, further compressing an already tight timeline to avoid a shutdown.

If lawmakers fail to approve more funding, federal agencies and programs would begin shutting down after Jan. 30. This shutdown would differ from the one that stretched from October into November, since several appropriations bills are already law.

Funding for military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture and the FDA, and legislative branch operations was approved as part of the November agreement to reopen the government. Additional funding for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Interior and the EPA, as well as energy and water development, also passed both chambers and was signed into law last week, allowing those agencies to continue operating even if other parts of the government are forced to close.