Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday evening, Jan. 24, that Democrats will not provide the votes needed to move an appropriations bill forward in the U.S. Senate if funding for the Department of Homeland Security is included.
Schumer called the day’s fatal shooting of a man by federal agents “appalling—and unacceptable in any American city.”
“Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included,” he said in a statement.
His declaration came as several Senate Democrats, including a few who voted with Republicans last year to reopen the federal government, said they also would vote against more funding for the DHS after the fatal shooting.
Democratic opposition to a federal government funding package, which includes money for the DHS and is set for a vote in the Senate next week, means there could be a partial government shutdown if senators are unable to pass the measure by the Jan. 30 deadline.
Some 60 votes are needed to move the measure forward in the upper chamber, so Democratic support is needed to advance it.
Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith both plan to vote against the measure.
“Republicans and Democrats in Congress must join together to condemn this abuse of power and to stop it, starting by refusing to fund this Agency so long as it continues to kill and terrorize Americans,” Smith said in a statement Saturday after the shooting.
