The U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, surrounded by snow and ice, on Wednesday, January 28, 2026. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government began a partial shutdown early Saturday, even as Senate Democrats and President Donald Trump reached an agreement that will give lawmakers more time to negotiate up-to-date restrictions on immigration enforcement.
The Senate voted 71 to 29 on Friday evening to pass the revised state funding package before a midnight deadline. But the earliest the House could clear approval of Trump’s signature would be Monday evening, when members return from recess.
The scheduling problem guarantees that the current spending law, which Congress passed in November at the end of the last shutdown, will expire without replacement.
However, the impact on the country is not expected to be as dramatic as during the historic 43-day shutdown last year. Since Congress has already passed half of the dozen annual budget bills, this shutdown will affect only part of the government, and perhaps with a moderate impact as it may only take a few days for the House to act.
The unexpected delay in passing the $1.2 trillion package came after immigration agents in Minneapolis killed a second person and Senate Democrats demanded that reforms be included in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill. Trump has agreed to two weeks of negotiations on the DHS bill, which includes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and other immigration agencies.
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the year-round measures are “fiscally responsible bills that reflect months of hard work and consideration from members of both parties and both sides of the Capitol.”
“The package also continues funding for the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks to give us additional time to evaluate additional changes to ICE procedures beyond those we already included in this bill,” she said.
Once the package comes into effect, she said, 96% of the government will be funded for the fiscal year, which already began on Oct. 1.
Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, said approving the five full-year bills and a stopgap measure for the Department of Homeland Security was “a simple, common-sense path forward.”
“It’s good news that we have an agreement in place to fund these important programs that families count on as work continues on serious DHS accountability over the next two weeks,” Murray said. “It couldn’t be clearer that ICE and CBP are out of control and that we can’t just wait for the same president who created this mess to address the problem.”
Senators from North Carolina and South Carolina find themselves at odds
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said in a speech several hours before voting began that he would delay quick consideration of the funding package until leaders agreed to schedule votes on two separate proposals.
The first would establish some type of criminal sanction for local or state officials who do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities, often referred to as “sanctuary cities.” The second step would pave the way for conservative organizations to file lawsuits against former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith over his investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
“What’s the right response when a state or a mayor says, ‘I don’t like this federal law, I’m not going to do it because there’s good policy for me.'” I think you risk going to prison,” Graham said. “We can’t live in a country where you can pick and choose the laws you don’t like.”
A spokesman for Graham later confirmed to States Newsroom that the senator wanted the votes “at some point” rather than Friday. Graham released a statement later in the afternoon saying Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had agreed to schedule the votes “at a date to be determined.”
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis spoke directly after Graham and blamed him for delaying the entire funding package.
Tillis called on senators from both political parties to begin negotiations on “sensible ways to lower the temperature” in immigration enforcement.
He said officials should “hold people accountable when they cause harm to ICE agents and hold ICE agents accountable when they responded in a way that is inconsistent with their law enforcement training.”
Tillis argued that Graham’s approach of pushing for amendment votes, which are unlikely to succeed, would have no physical, real-world impact.
“A senator has a lot of power. And if you use it wisely, you can be productive and make a difference,” Tillis said. “But if you use it in the heat of the moment, you can make a point that no one will remember a month later.”
Some departments, including the judiciary, are affected
The departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, State, Transportation and Treasury will all be affected by the funding freeze. The Executive Office of the President, the Supreme Court and the Judiciary will also be affected.
All other federal programs will continue uninterrupted as their spending bills become law, including those of the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Interior, Justice, and Veterans Affairs, as well as military construction projects and congressional funding.
A spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts wrote in a statement earlier this week that “operations will continue through Wednesday, February 4, using court fees and other available balances.”
“The following day, on February 5, the judiciary would begin its work in accordance with the provisions of the Antideficiency Act. The federal courts would continue their work but would be limited to activities necessary to support the exercise of the constitutional functions of the judiciary and to deal with emergency situations.”
Democrats in the House of Representatives are calling for changes to the DHS law
A spokesman for the White House budget office said departments and agencies affected by the funding gap could exploit their funds Emergency plans from the last shutdown unless there were “big changes.”
These documents detail how many employees will continue to work without pay during a shutdown and how many will be furloughed.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats would not support the spending bill unless there were sweeping reforms in the way immigration officials conduct enforcement.
“We have to evaluate what the real opportunity is to make dramatic change at the Department of Homeland Security. It has to be bold,” he said during a morning news conference. “The Senate has to do its thing before we have anything to evaluate.”
