WASHINGTON — President Trump has confidently forecasted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will soon feel compelled to negotiate a deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. In a bold statement, Trump warned that if Schumer doesn’t come to the table, the Republican Party might eliminate the filibuster.
“Chuck Schumer, a politician in a desperate spot, who no longer holds sway over the Radical Left Democrats, is likely to strike a deal soon. He believes that failure to do so could lead Republicans to END THE FILIBUSTER, which they should consider doing regardless of his actions!” Trump declared on Truth Social.
In response to Trump’s remarks, Schumer’s office chose not to comment on the statements made via Truth Social.
Since February 14, Senate Democrats have utilized the 60-vote filibuster to obstruct Republican-supported bills aimed at fully funding the Department of Homeland Security, leading to the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history. Their stance has been driven by demands for comprehensive reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in light of the president’s stringent measures against illegal immigration.
In recent weeks, Trump has intensified his calls for Republicans to abolish the filibuster altogether. He argues this move is necessary to reopen DHS and push forward the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a proposal mandating proof of citizenship for voting.
Over the past couple of weeks, Trump dialed up the pressure on Republicans to scrap the filibuster altogether to reopen DHS and pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote.
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has warned that Republicans simply lack the votes to end or roll back the filibuster, fearing a future where Democrats would have unobstructed control of the Senate.
On Wednesday, once hopeful rumblings that a deal to finally reopen the DHS was within reach collapsed after Democrats presented their counteroffer to Republicans.
The GOP had begrudgingly warmed up to the idea of funding everything within DHS except the deportation wing of ICE, something that Republicans would later fund separately via the reconciliation process, which bypasses the filibuster.
But the Democrats re-upped many of their demands, including ones that Republicans have deemed nonstarters, such as requiring ICE agents to identify themselves and enacting warrant reforms.
“I don’t know how you get to a solution where they keep moving the goalposts and where, when you hit a target that they said would be acceptable, they walk away from it,” Thune vented to reporters Wednesday. “That’s happened multiple times, including most recently over the weekend.”
“It’s not even close to being real,” he said of the Dems’ demands. “They know better. They’re asking for things that have already been turned down. So it just seems like they’re going in circles, spinning, spinning.”
A top Democratic aide told The Post that there were “no new asks.”
“The counteroffer includes some of the same basic reforms Democrats have been discussing for monthsâincluding several that the White House has already agreed to in principle, like officer identification, body-worn cameras, protecting sensitive locations from enforcement actions, and basic training standards,” the aide told The Post.
The Transportation Security Administration is set to miss their second full paycheck on Friday, with the agency’s boss revealing that over 480 screeners have quit, and call-out rates have surged to double digits.
As a result, airport wait lines have exploded across the country, topping four and a half hours in some cases.
