Pictures of Alex Pretti sitting outside his home on January 26, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse at a VA medical center, died Jan. 25 after being shot multiple times during a brief standoff with Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday urged Senate Democrats to move forward with the government’s funding package, which must be enacted before the weekend to avoid a partial shutdown, and rejected her proposal to scrap the Homeland Security funding bill.
House Democrats say they are willing to facilitate pass five of the six bills, but insist the Homeland Security spending measure must be scrapped and renegotiated to place more restrictions on federal immigration enforcement after officers were killed a second American citizen in Minnesota this weekend.
“We certainly don’t want to see this funding run out, and we want the Senate to move forward with passage of the bipartisan budget package that was negotiated on a bipartisan basis,” Leavitt said.
Congressional negotiators have reached bipartisan consensus in recent months on each of the dozen full-year government spending bills, although the final bills still need to be approved by the Senate and signed into law.
Funding for hundreds of programs under these measures will expire at midnight Friday, when the stopgap bill takes effect Congress agreed at the end of the last shutdown.
A partial shutdown would impact the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, State, Transportation and Treasury. The Executive Office of the President, the Supreme Court and the Judiciary would also go without funding if a solution cannot be found in time.
Leavitt said during the briefing that “there are policy discussions going on in Minnesota on immigration” and pointed that out the call President Donald Trump and Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz had that earlier in the day.
“But that should not come at the expense of federal funding for the American people, which would include FEMA funding,” Leavitt said. “And we are in the middle of the storm that took place over the weekend, and many Americans are still affected by it.”
The Homeland Security budget proposal funds numerous programs in addition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. The Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Flood Insurance Fund, the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration are among the other agencies relying on the bill for budget authority.
Schumer calls for repeal of DHS law
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement that Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., should remove the Homeland Security funding bill from the larger package before the deadline to avoid a funding shortfall.
“The responsibility to prevent a partial government shutdown lies with Leader Thune and Senate Republicans,” he wrote. “If Leader Thune brings these five bills to the table this week, we can pass them immediately. If not, Republicans will once again be responsible for another government shutdown.”
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, in a brief speech urged lawmakers of both political parties to vote to advance the entire funding package, calling the possibility of another shutdown “harmful, unnecessary and catastrophic.”
“I hope that we can work together in a constructive way to achieve this and ensure that we do not end up in a dangerous and damaging government shutdown,” she said.
Collins acknowledged the killing of Alex Pretti over the weekend, saying his “tragic death” had “refocused attention on the Homeland Security bill, and I recognize that and share the concerns.”
“I would like to point out to my colleagues that this bill contains many safeguards that I encourage them to review,” Collins added, without going into detail. “And that the vast majority of the funding in this bill, more than 80%, is for functions outside of immigration and border security.”
A Senate Republican aide who was not authorized to speak publicly said GOP leaders were “determined not to cause another government shutdown.”
“We will move forward as planned and hope Democrats find a way to join us,” the aide added.
A Senate Democratic leadership aide said, “Republicans and the White House have been in touch but have not yet proposed any realistic solutions.”
“Government shutdowns help no one.”
Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Katie Britt, R-Ala., wrote in a social media post that the series of programs in this bill “are critical to keeping Americans safe and must be funded.”
“We know from recent history that government shutdowns help no one and are not in the best interests of the American people,” Britt wrote, referring to the historic shutdown that ended Nov. 12. “As we approach the deadline for government funding, I remain committed to finding a path forward.”
Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper & Dana Bash” that he cannot “vote to fund this lawless Department of Homeland Security.”
“And remember, this isn’t just in Minnesota. They’re breaking the law all over the country,” Murphy said. “I spent last week in Texas, where two- and three-year-old children who are legally in the United States are being detained just to traumatize them.”
Fetterman and Shaheen part ways
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman appeared to be the only member of his party in that chamber to support the entire package, writing in a statement that he will “never vote to shut down our government, especially our Department of Defense.”
“I reject calls to defund or abolish ICE. I strongly disagree with many of the policies and practices ICE uses in Minneapolis and believe that needs to change,” Fetterman wrote. “I want a conversation on the DHS budget proposal and support eliminating minivans. It is unlikely that will happen and our country will suffer another shutdown.”
New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen supported the strategy of withdrawing the Homeland Security spending bill and allowing the government’s other five funding bills to take effect before the shutdown deadline.
“The Senate must then have a real bipartisan discussion about what additional reforms we need to enact to prevent tragedies like Minneapolis from occurring across the country,” Shaheen wrote in a social media post. “I will vote against DHS funding until further reforms are in place.”
