US Senate blocks Homeland Security funding, raising likelihood of shutdown

By Richard Cowan, David Morgan ‌and Nolan D. ​McCaskill

WASHINGTON, Feb ​12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday blocked legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security past a Friday deadline, as Democrats pressed to rein ‌in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

The 52-47 vote, short of the 60 ⁠votes needed to advance the bill, raises the likelihood the embattled agency would face a shutdown if funding ‌expires on Saturday, though any real-world ‌impact could be minimal.

Democrats said they would not support funding the agency unless Republicans agree to reforms that would rein in immigration agents. The department faces a widespread ​public backlash after agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said continued funding without reforms would give the green light to "a rogue ⁠police force that doesn't obey the rules that every local police force and sheriff's office must obey."

The chamber's top Republican, ​John Thune, argued that the legislation rejected by Democrats would address some of their proposals, including new oversight provisions and funding for body cameras ​and de-escalation training.

"It's starting to look like Democrats ‌might not have been interested in actual reforms," he said.

The legislation would have provided $64.4 billion through September 30 to cover immigration enforcement and other ⁠functions handled by DHS, including airport security, disaster response, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Secret Service.

Funding for those efforts is due to expire at 12:01 a.m. ET (0501 GMT) on Saturday, and the ⁠agency will have to shut down "nonessential" operations if Congress does not act before then.

That might not matter ​much. DHS deemed 258,000 of its 272,000 employees "essential" last fall and required them to keep working during the record 43-day shutdown that ended on November 13.

Furthermore, DHS' two main immigration enforcement agencies - Immigration and Customs ‌Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection - were awarded huge budget increases by Congress last year, independent of the funding now hung up in ‌Congress.

Congress is expected to begin a 10-day recess on Saturday and is not due to return ⁠to Washington until February 23, one day ‌before President Donald Trump ​delivers his annual State of the Union address to Congress.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, David Morgan and Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Susan Heavey, ‌Rod Nickel)

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