The Full Package
Over the weekend and into today, TPM has been reporting on the growing Democratic opposition to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that is set for a Senate vote on Thursday, alongside a package of five other bills that will fund much of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year.
While all but seven House Democrats voted against the DHS portion of the legislation in the House and a handful of Senate Democrats announced they’d be opposing the DHS bill in the Senate this coming week, it was unclear before the weekend what position party leadership was going to take on the DHS funding measure, which in addition to ICE will also fund a handful of other crucial and less controversial federal programs, like FEMA and the TSA.
Then on Saturday, federal immigration agents killed another American citizen who was engaging in peaceful protest, observing ICE’s activities in Minnesota. Senate Democratic leadership soon announced the party would not provide the votes needed to advance the six-bill bipartisan appropriations package to fund the government if the DHS bill is included in the package. When the appropriations package was put up for a vote in the House, leadership carved the DHS bill out so that it could receive a separate vote after Democrats announced their near-universal opposition to the measure, saying it didn’t go far enough in placing constraints on ICE in the wake of its violent and deadly occupation of Minneapolis.
Schumer’s statement from Saturday:
“What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling — and unacceptable in any American city,” he said in a statement. “Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. I will vote no.”
“Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included,” he said.
While more and more Senate Dems have gotten in line behind Schumer’s calls for greater ICE reforms to be included in the DHS bill, raising the likelihood of a partial government shutdown, it has been unclear how exactly the legislation would be presented for a vote this week; would Republican leadership try to advance the measure as a six-bill appropriations package or allow for the DHS bill to be stripped from the other appropriations bills, which both Democrats and Republicans are keen to pass? Democrats have been signaling they’d prefer to vote on the DHS bill separately so they can help fund the rest of the government. Even Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who released a befuddling tight-rope-walking statement on Monday saying he won’t vote to shut down the government, said he’d support “stripping it from the minibus,” referring to the DHS bill.
This might all seem like boring procedural stuff, but it matters for Democrats who are wary of another government shutdown, albeit partial. Voting against federal funding for one department is different for Dems squeamish about opposing a bipartisan bill that includes funding for a handful of others. Republicans need at least seven Democrats to support the appropriations bills to avert a partial shutdown and Democrats appear to have no issue with the five other bills in the package.
But sweeping public outrage over another killing by ICE may be enough to compel Dems to stand up to the Trump administration’s brutality, even if it means voting against funding for a bunch of other on-their-face harmless agencies and programs.
The White House made its position on the matter clear Monday afternoon, potentially hoping to sway Republican leadership away from splitting off the DHS bill and setting up a situation where Dems would have to vote against five other appropriations bills in order to take a stand against ICE. Per Politico:
The White House on Monday urged the Senate to pass the six-bill appropriations package to avert a partial government shutdown and signaled it doesn’t want Department of Homeland Security money separated out.
“At this point, the White House supports the bipartisan work that was done to advance the bipartisan appropriations package and we want to see that passed,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a White House briefing when asked if the administration would be willing to separate DHS funding.
— Nicole LaFond
Turning On Noem
While a growing number of House Dems sign onto a new impeachment resolution targeting DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the White House announced today that it plans to send border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to, essentially, help clean up Noem and Greg Bovino’s mess there. Republicans in Congress have also taken small steps in the direction of questioning Noem’s leadership. The DHS secretary has reportedly agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3 at Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) request (though, it is reportedly just part of standard oversight work for the panel). And Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) said that Noem’s initial response to the killing in Minnesota on Saturday “weakened confidence” in her and the department.
— Nicole LaFond
Bondi’s ‘Ransom’ Voter File Request
In a move that Minnesota Secretary of Secretary of State Steve Simon is calling “an apparent ransom” effort, Attorney General Pam Bondi is using the killing of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by ICE, as a way to demand access to Minnesota’s voter rolls, as TPM reported today.
“You and your office must restore the rule of law, support ICE officers, and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota,” Bondi wrote in a letter to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, only hours after Pretti’s killing.
Not only has Simon refused to hand over this sensitive voter data, he called Bondi’s letter to Walz “an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. Citizens in violation of state and federal law.”
Meanwhile…
— Khaya Himmelman
In Case You Missed It
Khaya Himmelman: Minnesota SoS Rejects Bondi’s ‘Ransom’ Request for Voter Data In Exchange For End to ‘Chaos’
Josh Marshall: Remembering the Boston Massacre as Minneapolis Writhes Under Occupation
Hunter Walker: Churches Are on the Front Lines in the Fight Against Mass Deportation
Catch up on our live coverage here: Infuriated By Weekend Killing, Senate Dems Refuse to Fund ICE
Morning Memo: When the Propagandists Are Armed and Dangerous
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
White House Terror Tactics Are Pushing Blue State Leaders to Active Resistance
What We Are Reading
Sepp Blatter suggests fans should not travel to US for World Cup
Are you fucking kidding me:
So is Homan going to shakedown the state for money to withdraw the masked brownshirts?
I mean seriously, what mess is Tom Homan capable of cleaning up other than money dropped by a bank robber?
This is as lame a public relation stunt as I have ever heard or seen. If the media or "centrist Democrats "buys Homan as a “moderate”, while I guess that’s how we got here.
If Democrats fail on this, it’ll be the greatest betrayal this nation has yet experienced.
This is a bit of political no-brainer, of course the Senate Democrats should start making some demands for their votes. It is called democracy to do so. They should represent their constituents.
Now, that out of the way, Republicans are still a fascists party. That has not gone away. They may have found it inconvenient with the killing of Alex Pretti. But I do not expect them to rethink anything except how they can politically get themselves out the bind of being exposed without even a transparent fig leaf of propaganda to constantly belch out.
It was always going to come to this point. They cannot be fascist without going around and killing some people. It is necessary to instill fear and to instill fear some of it had to be very public. But, the other problem they have is that there no other positives really. It is not like the economy is great. So the propaganda spin has to be really on point, and the only point the video shows is murder. Their propaganda will not distract on this one; they have no hook on which it will hang.
And, either the fear works or it doesn’t. It hasn’t, at least not any near where they need it. Alex Pretti being out there trying to help people proves it.
OT: today Mrschjim & I drove past a local high school at about lunchtime. Hundreds of students lined 2 streets at an intersection. They carried placards opposing I.C.E. People like ourselves were slowing down, honking, cheering those kids. Made my old heart proud of those youngsters and their teachers! Maybe there is hope!
Stand tall, Dems, and do whatever you have to do to vote down the ICE funding. If the republicans want to hold other agencies hostage, that’s on them.