House Democrats will not approve a two-week CR to continue funding DHS while reforms are negotiated.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries outlined the Democratic position on ABC’s This Week:
What is clear is that the Department of Homeland Security must be radically reformed. We share this view, as do Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats, in many ways. Body cameras should be mandatory. The masks should come off. In our view, judicial warrants should absolutely be required, consistent with the Constitution, before DHS or ICE agents break into Americans’ homes or snatch people from their cars.
We must ensure that full and independent investigations are conducted so that when ICE or DHS agents break the law, they are held accountable not by the Department of Justice, which has no interest in conducting a fair investigation in our view, but by state and local authorities.
And we must reiterate that the detention and deportation of American citizens and the use of taxpayer dollars to brutalize ordinary Americans or violently target law-abiding immigrant families must be excluded.
Jeffries has already told Johnson that Democrats will help him suspend the rules to pass the CR by unanimous consent.
PoliticusUSA is your 100% independent source for news and opinions. Support us by becoming a subscriber.
John Bresnahan of Punchbowl News posted about the House Democrats’ conference call Sunday on X:
On the House Democratic Caucus call, Jeffries said he told Johnson on Saturday that he would not commit to a floor vote before speaking to his colleagues about government funding. Jeffries needed to see how to reach an agreement on DHS funding. House Dems strongly no
Max Cohen of Punchbowl News reported that the Democratic response to defunding ICE was:
House Democrats’ overwhelming reaction to caucus call on DHS bill: ‘Hell no’
Laura Weiss of Punchbowl News added more from the call on X:
News: HOYER and CLYBURN both told House Democrats during their private caucus call that they should vote YES to pass the government funding package this week
It’s hard to imagine Hoyer and Clyburn voting yes if the rest of the caucus is no.
What this means is that Mike Johnson will have to bring together a majority of Republicans to adopt a rule, then the final vote.
The House does not vote separately on funding bills.
Johnson holds a vote to agree with the Senate on the five bills.
DHS is already closed and Democrats will not vote to reopen it without real reforms to ICE.
Buckle up for a very interesting week in the House.
What do you think about Democrats saying no to defunding ICE? Join the discussion in the comments below.