President Donald Trump urged Congress at a Cabinet meeting Thursday to find a quick solution to the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, which is causing increasing headaches for air travelers.
“They need to end the shutdown immediately, or we’re going to have to take some very drastic measures,” Trump said from the White House.
He did not say what steps he would take or elaborate on his role in negotiations to resume funding to DHS.
The DHS shutdown has lasted more than a month and disrupted air travel. Transportation Security Administration agents are working without pay and missing work in droves, causing long lines at airports and increasing pressure on lawmakers to find a deal, though they appear to be at an impasse.
According to MS Now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. told reporters Thursday that Democrats have received a “final and final offer” from Republicans. Thune declined to provide details of the latest proposal, but said the White House was “involved in the incident that occurred overnight.”
A group of Senate Republicans met with Trump at the White House on Monday and came up with a compromise proposal: funding for 94% of DHS, excluding the enforcement and removals branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But Democrats — who have halted their support for funding the agency since February, shortly after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during an immigration crackdown — rejected the proposal because it did not include ICE operational changes they have long sought. Those changes include requiring immigration agents to obtain a judicial warrant before entering private property and a ban on the use of masks.
Republicans on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a Senate Democratic counterproposal that included some of the proposals.
In addition to extending the shutdown, the talks deadlock raises fears of cutting into the scheduled two-week holiday that was scheduled to begin this weekend. thun told reporters It was an “open question” on Wednesday whether lawmakers would be able to leave the city as planned.
The White House signaled on background earlier this week that it is on board with the GOP plan to reopen DHS, but Trump has yet to publicly throw his support behind the proposal.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration sent ICE agents to airports to assist the TSA. Trump suggested on Wednesday that he might also deploy National Guard members to airports for additional help.
— emily wilkins Contributed to this story.