House Dems Vote To Continue DHS Shutdown As Senate Blocks Funding Again
House Democrats largely voted Thursday to allow the Department of Homeland Security shutdown to continue, rejecting renewed Republican pressure to pass a funding bill amid heightened tensions with Iran and domestic security concerns.
The House approved a bipartisan DHS funding measure in a 221–209 vote, but all but four Democrats opposed it. Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez of Washington, and Don Davis of North Carolina broke with their party to support the legislation.
The bill would fund DHS through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. It previously passed the House in January following bipartisan negotiations that ended a 43-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. GOP leaders brought the measure back to the floor this week, arguing that the evolving national security situation demanded immediate action.
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The vote came just hours after President Donald Trump announced he was removing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and appointing Sen. Markwayne Mullin as her replacement — a move that shocked Capitol Hill but did not shift Democratic opposition.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries dismissed the leadership change as irrelevant to the negotiations.
“It’s not like Kristi Noem was the one who was involved in negotiating anything. She was a corrupt lackey. So we were dealing with the White House before, and we’re going to continue to deal with the White House at this point,” Jeffries said.
The funding bill would fully restore DHS operations and includes provisions originally demanded by Democrats, such as requiring body-worn cameras for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and mandating additional training on public engagement and de-escalation.
Despite those concessions, Democratic leadership has held firm, demanding further restrictions on ICE and Customs and Border Protection operations following fallout from Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, where two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal agents during anti-ICE demonstrations. That operation has since concluded.
Republicans argue that maintaining a shutdown at DHS — the agency responsible for border security, counterterrorism coordination, cybersecurity, FEMA, and the Coast Guard — is reckless given rising global instability tied to U.S.-Israeli operations targeting Iranian military and leadership assets.
Speaker Mike Johnson said the shutdown creates unnecessary vulnerability.
“Now is the time to be vigilant at home and to ensure that all of our doors are locked, so to speak,” Johnson said. “And yet, as all this is happening, we have Democrats running around here playing political games in Congress. It’s infuriating. They’ve shut down the very agency that is responsible for securing the homeland.”
Jeffries countered that Republicans are using foreign conflict as leverage.
“Donald Trump launches an unauthorized war in the Middle East,” Jeffries said earlier this week. “He decides that he wants to spend billions of dollars to bomb Iran, rather than spend taxpayer dollars to lower the grocery bills that are crushing the American people, and then wants to use his unauthorized war as an excuse to continue spending taxpayer dollars to brutalize or kill American citizens by continuing to unleash ICE without restriction on the American people? I think it’s ridiculous.”
The real leverage, however, lies in the Senate. Later Thursday, Senate Democrats blocked the same DHS funding bill, voting 51–45 in favor — short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Every Democrat except Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against the measure.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated negotiations between the White House and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer remain stalled.
“It’s never enough, and I think the reason it’s never enough is because they just really don’t want a deal,” Thune said. “I think they see this as politically advantageous to them.”
The shutdown now stretches into a fourth week, with little sign of a breakthrough. Democrats continue to push for tighter warrant standards, unmasking requirements for ICE and CBP agents, and additional operational constraints.
Meanwhile, Republicans warn that prolonged dysfunction at DHS could leave the nation exposed at a time of elevated threat levels.
“At some point, something bad is going to happen,” Thune said.
Trump Tells Schumer ‘Go to Hell’ After Senate Dems Block His Nominees
Hours after President Donald Trump told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to “go to hell” in a fiery social media post Saturday, the Senate adjourned for summer break without reaching an agreement on confirming his pending nominees.
Sources familiar with the talks told CNN that Senate GOP Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Schumer (D-N.Y.), and White House officials had been locked in tense negotiations aimed at breaking the impasse and allowing lawmakers to return to their home states.
According to the sources, Schumer had demanded the release of certain federal funds and sought assurances that Trump would not pursue another budget-cutting legislative package before agreeing to any deal, CNN noted.
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But, on social media, Trump called Schumer’s demands “egregious and unprecedented,” a sign that talks had gotten nowhere.
Trump had pushed for the Senate to confirm his nominees, even if it meant forgoing the August recess, but his post made clear he had no intention of conceding to the Democrats’ demands.
“Senator Cryin’ Chuck Schumer is demanding over One Billion Dollars in order to approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees, who should right now be helping to run our Country. This demand is egregious and unprecedented, and would be embarrassing to the Republican Party if it were accepted. It is political extortion, by any other name,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL! Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our Country. Have a great RECESS and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!,” Trump added.
On Saturday night, Thune took to the Senate floor to request unanimous consent for the chamber to vote on a select group of nominations before adjourning for a month-long recess.
Democrats had been slow-walking President Trump’s lower-level nominees, prompting Senate GOP Leader John Thune to keep the chamber in session over the weekend to push them through. Though in the minority, Democrats wield procedural tools that can force Republicans to clear time-consuming hurdles before votes can take place.
According to sources familiar with the talks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made several demands in exchange for expediting a batch of confirmations. These included unfreezing federal funds for programs like the National Institutes of Health and foreign aid, as well as securing a promise from Trump not to pursue another round of spending cuts—following a $9 billion rescissions package passed earlier this summer.
At a Saturday night press conference, Schumer said Democrats were “serious” about negotiating a “reasonable path” to bipartisan confirmation of nominees, but said the president refused to accept their terms, CNN said.
All said, however, Democrats are finding themselves in an increasingly perilous situation some 15 months before the midterm elections. The party is at historically low levels of approval, according to a series of polls this year, and fundraising has fallen far short of GOP efforts.
In fact, Trump’s campaign and allied political committees have already met his ambitious $1.4 billion fundraising goal — more than a year ahead of schedule — setting the stage for what insiders say will be record-breaking spending in the midterms.
Trump set the goal shortly after securing a second term, vowing to use his political operation to protect House and Senate Republicans and ensure one-party control of Congress throughout his presidency, The New York Post reported.
The $1.4 billion target was first revealed in May, when Trump’s team disclosed a $600 million haul — already a historic figure. On Friday, they announced the goal had been met in full through a combination of cash on hand and pledged donations, funneled through the Republican National Committee and his super PAC, Make America Great Again, Inc.
SHOWDOWN ON THE FIVE: Jessica Tarlov Drops Truth Bomb on GOP’s Controversial Voter Legislation
SHOWDOWN ON THE FIVE: Jessica Tarlov Drops Truth Bomb on GOP’s Controversial Voter Legislation
WASHINGTON — A ferocious battle over the soul of American democracy erupted on cable news this week, proving once again that the clash over election integrity is reaching a boiling point.
During a high-stakes segment on Fox News' top-rated program The Five, liberal co-host Jessica Tarlov ignited an intense firestorm by sounding the alarm on the Republican-backed SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act).
Her warning was sharp, direct, and unapologetic: This isn't just a simple Voter ID bill—it’s a bureaucratic roadblock designed to keep millions of legal Americans away from the ballot box.
"Far Beyond Voter ID": Tarlov Sounds the Alarm
While GOP proponents frame the SAVE Act as a common-sense measure to restore trust in elections, Tarlov shredded that narrative live on air, dissecting the fine print of the proposed federal mandate.
Under the bill, anyone registering to vote in federal elections would be legally required to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship—such as a physical U.S. passport, a certified birth certificate, or naturalization papers.
"People hear 'Voter ID' and think it’s just showing a driver's license at the counter," Tarlov argued. "It’s not. This bill demands physical proof of citizenship upfront. Millions of everyday, hard-working American citizens do not have a valid passport sitting in a drawer or immediate access to an official birth certificate. This creates an artificial barrier to a fundamental constitutional right." without instant paperwork access.
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The fiery television debate reflects a massive political rift tearing through Capitol Hill and statehouses across the country.
The Conservative Defense: Republican sponsors and conservative commentators insist the measure is vital to national security and sovereign elections. They argue that verifying citizenship at registration is a necessary safeguard to prevent non-citizens from ever slipping onto federal voter rolls.
The Progressive Pushback: Critics like Tarlov argue that non-citizen voting in federal elections is already illegal, strictly policed, and exceptionally rare. Opponents caution that adding heavy administrative hurdles will unintentionally disenfranchise lawful voters—particularly students, low-income citizens, rural voters, and women whose names have changed due to marriage.
The Stakes Couldn't Be Higher
As the debate over voter access versus election security intensifies, the SAVE Act has turned into a major political litmus test.
Is requiring physical proof of citizenship a mandatory protection to guarantee that every vote is lawful? Or is it an unnecessary, red-tape nightmare that punishes legal citizens for not having their paperwork in order?
One thing is certain: as long as voices like Jessica Tarlov continue to push back on prime-time television, the fight over who gets to vote—and how hard it is to do so—is far from over.
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Supporters of the bill strongly disagree, saying it is designed to protect election integrity by preventing non-citizens from registering to vote. Opponents argue the existing safeguards are already sufficient and fear the measure could unintentionally disenfranchise lawful voters. Is the SAVE Act a necessary election safeguard, or does it create unnecessary barriers to voting?
