President Donald Trump took advantage of a verbal flub by Democratic New York Sen. Chuck Schumer Sunday, teasing him about ending a partial government shutdown.
Democrats have held up funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the latest effort to fund the entire department failing to achieve the required 60-vote threshold Friday. During a Saturday speech on the Senate floor, Schumer called for an end to the shutdown.
“We must fund ICE, we must fund TSA,” Schumer said in the video clip of the speech which Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday morning.
“Schumer got ‘discombobulated’ in the Senate yesterday, and said, ‘WE MUST FUND ICE,’ prior to correcting himself. Thank you Chuck, I agree!” Trump wrote in his post.
The shutdown’s effects have been most visible in the form of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees calling out of work or quitting, leading to long lines at airports. The DHS started subjecting agencies, including the TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to “emergency measures” in response to the shutdown.
Democrats have notably maintained that they support packages to fully fund other agencies under DHS such as the TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard — as long as the packages do not fund ICE and CBP.
The party’s congressional leaders demanded new restrictions on ICE after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in January during the agency’s clashes with groups opposed to federal immigration enforcement operations. The separate incidents occurred amid the deployment of hundreds of federal agents to Minnesota in response to reports about welfare fraud involving Somali migrants.
The demands from Democrats include calls for ICE agents to stop wearing masks and for agents to obtain judicial warrants before entering private property.
On Sunday, Trump’s nomination of Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace DHS Security Kristi Noem advanced to a final vote in the Senate as Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico bucked their party in favor of the nominee.
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