Senate Dems reject DHS funding package

Any other response is simply untenable at this point:

Bipartisan legislation to fund a broad swath of the government and avert a shutdown at the end of the week appeared to be in grave danger on Saturday, as key Senate Democrats vowed to oppose it after federal agents shot and killed a Minneapolis resident.

The rapidly escalating opposition to the measure, which includes $64.4 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including $10 billion for ICE, amplified the likelihood of a partial government shutdown at the end of the month. The legislation requires the support of Democrats to muster the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster and advance in the Senate.

“Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the D.H.S. funding bill is included,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said in a statement, calling what is unfolding in Minnesota “appalling” and “unacceptable in any American city.”

Recognizing the depth of Democratic outrage, Senate Republicans immediately began examining whether they could separate the homeland security funding from the rest of the package and preserve the bulk of what had been a bipartisan deal to fund a large chunk of the government. The measure also funds the Pentagon and State Department, as well as health, education, labor and transportation programs.

“I’m exploring all options,” said Senator Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who is the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, adding that she had been in touch with Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican and majority leader. “We have five other bills that are really vital, and I’m relatively confident they would pass.”

A planned vote on the package next week had already promised to pose an agonizing dilemma for many Democrats. They have been eager to avoid another shutdown but have grown increasingly infuriated by the scenes of chaos and violence coming out of Minnesota and facing intense pressure not to fund ICE. Some had already announced they would not support the package as a result, but a substantial bloc had been expected to swallow their reservations and back it.

But hours after the killing on Saturday, a flood of Democrats who had previously been seen as likely to support the deal declared that they simply could not do so.

“The Trump administration and Kristi Noem are putting undertrained, combative federal agents on the streets with no accountability,” Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Democrat of Nevada, said in a statement announcing her opposition. “They are oppressing Americans and are at odds with local law enforcement. This is clearly not about keeping Americans safe. It’s brutalizing U.S. citizens and law-abiding immigrants.”

Cortez Masto coming out forcefully against it suggests that today’s murder is a real turning point. We’ll see if Senate Republicans want to shut down the government to defend arbitrary state killings or not.