On Thursday, Congress made another attempt to secure full funding for the federal government, particularly focusing on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Efforts were made in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, but the responses were somewhat mixed.
The Senate initiated proceedings, with Democrats taking a strategic approach to the funding debate. The vote concluded at 51-45, with the only dissenting Democrat being Senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, expressed his frustration, telling Fox News that Democrats had repeatedly “rebuffed” outreach efforts by Senator Katie Britt, a Republican from Alabama, who was chosen to lead GOP negotiations. Thune suggested that the decision to disregard Britt and the Republicans stemmed from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s direction.
This political maneuvering by the Democrats occurred shortly after breaking news regarding a significant personnel change by President Trump. He replaced DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma, as reported by my colleague Bob Hoge in several articles.
Chuck Schumer and the Democrats are TRAITORS and must… pic.twitter.com/g6lEnSyXeJ
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 5, 2026
🚨 BREAKING: The US Senate has just FAILED to advance the DHS funding bill, which means DHS will likely shutdown tomorrow night
Fetterman was the lone Democrat to vote in favor.
These idiots aren’t shutting down ICE, because ICE is FULLY FUNDED for the year.
They’re shutting… pic.twitter.com/6RiMataVKz
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 12, 2026
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, (R-SD) told Fox News in the story linked above that “Democrats had ‘rebuffed’ Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., whom he anointed to run point for the GOP in negotiations, after repeated attempts to reach out to their counterparts,” adding that “it appeared the decision to ignore Britt and Republicans was coming from Schumer.”
This first sortie by Democrats happened just minutes after news broke about Pres. Trump replacing DHS Sec. Kristi Noem with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), as my colleague Bob Hoge wrote in several pieces.
