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Senate Dems revolt against DHS funding bill amid Minneapolis chaos, hiking government shutdown risk
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Senate Democrats are ready to break a fragile truce that would avert a partial government shutdown after a Minneapolis man was fatally shot by a border patrol agent Saturday.
Congressional Democrats were already leery of backing funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) considering the agency’s presence in Minnesota and beyond, but the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement operation has shattered what little unity they had on the bill.
Now, Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plan to vote against the legislation, which is included in a broader funding package along with five other spending bills.
SENATE DEMOCRATS REBEL AGAINST THEIR OWN LEADERSHIP OVER DHS FUNDING PACKAGE, INCREASING SHUTDOWN ODDS
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Senate Democrats would not support a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a fatal shooting involving a border patrol agent in Minnesota Saturday. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Schumer, in a statement Saturday, said Democrats tried to get «commonsense reforms» in the DHS funding bill but charged that «because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses» of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
«I will vote no,» Schumer said. «Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.»
Schumer’s play call serves as a blow to Senate Republicans, who worked with their colleagues across the aisle to find compromises in the DHS bill, in particular. It also comes as the Jan. 30 deadline to fund the government is rapidly approaching. Further complicating matters is the arctic storm ripping across the country, which has already forced the upper chamber to cancel votes on Monday.
A senior Senate aide told Fox News Digital Senate Democrats had been saying for weeks they weren’t interested in shutting down the government again and had praised the bipartisan nature of the government funding process up until Saturday.
«These bills were negotiated with Dems — they agreed to what’s in them,» the aide said.
HOUSE JAMS SENATE BY ATTACHING REPEAL OF JACK SMITH PROVISION TO $1.2T FUNDING PACKAGE
Demonstrators stand behind a barricade of trash bins as they gather near the site where state and local authorities say a man was shot and killed by federal agents earlier in the morning in Minneapolis Jan. 24, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
The agency would be fully funded in the current proposal with several restrictions and reporting requirements that, if not met, would act as triggers to turn off certain cash flows.
Ripping the bill from the current six-bill funding package would cause a domino effect of headaches in Congress, given that any changes to the package would have to go through the House.
The lower chamber is gone until Feb. 2, making the likelihood of a partial shutdown much higher.
Before the shooting, a handful of Senate Democrats had already made their opposition to the legislation known, including senators Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Tim Kaine, D-Va.
Kaine notably crossed the aisle last year to join a cohort of Senate Democratic caucus members to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
He was not the only member of that group of eight to voice opposition. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., both came out against the DHS bill’s inclusion in the broader package on Saturday.
«My personal guiding principle has always been ‘agree where you can and fight where you must,’» Rosen said in a statement. «And I believe this is a time when we must fight back.»
House lawmakers are on a week-long recess after passing their latest spending package in two chunks Thursday, one standalone vote on DHS funding and another wrapping together funding legislation for the departments of War, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.
SENATE ADVANCES $174B PACKAGE AS MINNESOTA ICE SHOOTING FUELS DHS FUNDING FIGHT
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
A provision was added to the legislation before it passed the House that would combine the bills into one large package for the Senate to consider at once. It was then expected to be paired with other bills the Senate has not yet considered but which passed the House this month.
Changing that ahead of the Jan. 30 shutdown deadline would mean House lawmakers must return to Washington early to go through multiple procedural hurdles and another vote on the legislation, something House GOP leaders are ruling out, at least for now.
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«We passed all 12 bills over to the Senate, and they still have six in their possession that they need to pass to the president,» a House GOP leadership source told Fox News Digital Saturday evening, referring to the lower chamber completing its portion of Congress’ annual appropriations process. «We have no plan to come back next week.»
Even if House leaders changed their plans, the impending snowstorm would mean lawmakers may not return until Tuesday at the earliest. That would put final passage sometime Wednesday or Thursday, virtually guaranteeing Congress does not complete consideration of the bills until after the Friday deadline.
House GOP leaders would also likely be grappling with attendance issues if they did order a return, with various lawmakers on planned trips and over a dozen busy campaigning for higher office.
A partial government shutdown would mean only agencies that Congress has not yet funded would have to reduce or cease functions. In this case, payment to active duty troops, air traffic controllers and border patrol agents could all be affected.
politics,senate,house of representatives politics,government shutdown,homeland security,minnesota fraud exposed
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Israel approves sweeping death penalty legislation targeting terrorism, EU condemns move
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JERUSALEM: Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, on Monday passed a law mandating the death penalty for Palestinian terrorists convicted of deadly acts of terrorism, sparking anger from European countries and an Israeli opposition leader.
Lawmakers voted 62-47 in favor of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s legislation to prescribe the death penalty by hanging. Ben Gvir and his party, Otzma Yehudit, proposed the measure.
Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Tzvika Foghel, who chairs the National Security Committee and advanced the bill through the committee under his leadership, told Fox News Digital that Israelis are fed up with policies of containment and compromise.
NETANYAHU URGES COURT TO REVOKE PALESTINIANS’ ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP AFTER CONVICTIONS FOR VIOLENT CRIMES
The opening assembly of the Knesset’s winter session on Monday evening. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL)
«For too many years, we have tried to please the entire world, even when we were being murdered in our streets. Since October 7, we have shifted to an offensive approach so that we can dictate the reality in the future,» he said.
Foghel said the death penalty for terrorists is part of a broader shift in Israel, driven by the recognition that no other country faces a reality in confronting radical Islamic terrorism in Gaza, Lebanon, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), as well as in Yemen and Iran.
«The death penalty for terrorists who burned, raped, mutilated and abused children and parents is the same punishment we established for the Nazis,» he said.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said, «The EU has a principled position against the death penalty in all cases and in all circumstances. Israel had long upheld a de facto moratorium on both executions and capital punishment sentencing, thereby leading by example in the region despite a complex security environment.»
She added, «The approval of the Death Penalty Bill by the Israeli Parliament marks a grave regression from that practice and from Israel’s own commitments. We are deeply concerned about the de facto discriminatory character of the Bill.»
ANALYSTS SAY GAZA ‘CIVILIAN’ DEATHS INCLUDE HAMAS, OTHER TERROR MEMBERS WORKING AS MEDICS, MEDIA WORKERS
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid speaks at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on Oct. 13, 2025 in Jerusalem. ((Photo by Evelyn Hockstein – Pool/Getty Images))
Israel has applied the death penalty only once in the state’s history for the Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann in 1962. The death penalty exists on the books in Israel, but Israeli courts have limited latitude to apply execution to cases beyond penalties for Nazi war criminals.
Former Prime Minister and current leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid said the legislation is fundamentally flawed because it does not apply to Hamas terrorists involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre that killed 1,200 people.
«This law is not a show of force; it is a sign of panic. This law is more extreme than anything in the United States, and they know it will get struck down by the law. It isn’t a law for justice or for deterrence, it is a law for public relations,» he added.
Adolf Eichmann, in a bullet-proof cabin, puts on earphones to hear the reading of the act of accusation against him, Dec. 17, 1961. He was in charge of the extermination of Jews in Poland and then organized the deportation and extermination of Jews in 13 European countries. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
Likud lawmaker Dan Illouz, a supporter of the legislation, told Fox News Digital that the events of Oct. 7 underscored, in his view, the need to prevent terrorists from viewing the kidnapping of civilians as a viable means of securing the release of imprisoned militants.
«The death penalty shatters that equation. It serves as the ultimate deterrent, ensuring that terrorists know their actions lead only to their own demise, not a negotiated release. We are a life-loving nation, but to protect life, we must deal decisively with those who seek to destroy it,» he said.
«Prime Minister Netanyahu’s vote in favor was crucial. It projects an unmistakable message of strength and moral clarity from the very top of Israel’s leadership. By personally casting his vote, the Prime Minister showed our enemies, and the entire world, that our government is completely united and unyielding in our resolve to eradicate terrorism and defend our citizens,» he added.
MICHIGAN SYNAGOGUE ATTACKER WAS INSPIRED BY HEZBOLLAH, SOUGHT TO KILL AS MANY JEWISH PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE: FEDS
The Israeli Channel 12 political commentator, Amit Segal, wrote that he supports «executing terrorists who attempt to murder civilians — especially the monsters of October 7,» but was critical of Ben Gvir’s legislation.
He wrote in his newsletter, «The law defines terrorism as acts ‘to negate the existence of the state,’ a definition that could apply to groups such as extremist Haredi factions and violent members of the ‘Hilltop Youth’ (which Ben-Gvir supports.)
Hamas terrorists killed civilians, including women, children and the elderly, when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
Segal said that «while Ben-Gvir’s law is essentially a campaign stunt, a more responsible law is making its way through the system. Proposed by MKs Simcha Rotman and Yulia Malinovsky, the law establishes the practical mechanisms — procedural and evidentiary — to secure convictions of Nukhba terrorists, after which the death penalty could be imposed.»
Another Likud lawmaker, Amit Halevi, told Fox News Digital that the central element of the legislation is the distinction between criminal offenses and crimes against the state or against humanity.
«A terrorist commits his crimes as part of an ideology aimed at killing, oppressing and controlling all Jews. These terrorists, if they could, would kill every one of us. They are ideological murderers, in a different category from ordinary criminals, and that is a critical point of the bill,» he said.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrives for a cabinet meeting at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on Aug. 27, 2023. (MENAHEM KAHANA/Pool via REUTERS)
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Halevi added that further efforts are needed to clearly delineate crimes against the state, including what falls within that category and what does not.
«Generally speaking, this legislation is a step in the right direction. Much of the criticism I hear relates to ordinary criminals. People do not understand the enemy — who he is and what this war is about,» he said.
israel, terrorism, hamas, conflicts, benjamin netanyahu
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A progressive House candidate backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is under fire for dodging in-person debates with her GOP opponent ahead of an April special election, prompting accusations that she is reluctant to defend her far-left platform before voters.
Republican candidate Joe Hathaway is ripping his Democratic opponent, Analilia Mejia, for agreeing to a virtual debate — after repeatedly declining a series of face-to-face opportunities. The candidates are scheduled to participate in a live virtual forum sponsored by the New Jersey Globe on Wednesday evening.
«Unfortunately, when my opponent dodges and lies about debates, it limits the opportunity for a head-to-head matchup with two weeks left in the election,» Hathaway said in a statement to Fox News Digital. «For now, she can hide behind a screen, but she cannot hide from her record.»
The special election winner will fill an open seat vacated by Gov. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who resigned after winning the state’s 2025 governor’s race. The outcome will be closely watched for its potential impact on House Republicans’ razor-thin majority.
Analilia Mejia, then a progressive activist, speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on April 19, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WHERE SANDERS AND AOC BACKED PROGRESSIVE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE ANALILIA MEJIA STANDS ON KEY ISSUES
Hathaway’s blistering criticism comes after Mejia repeatedly declined debate opportunities with Hathaway that he accepted, the Hathaway campaign told Fox News Digital.
Proposed debates sponsored by Montclair High School, On New Jersey, Fairleigh Dickinson University and New Jersey Spotlight News ultimately fell through after Mejia did not accept the invites, according to the Hathaway campaign.
Mejia, who narrowly upset a crowded field of challengers in February’s Democratic primary, has also faced backlash for appearing to misrepresent her rationale for backing out of a separate debate opportunity with local chapters of the left-leaning League of Women Voters.
The New Jersey Democrat said she rejected the debate invite — co-sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey — because the group was «unable to commit» to having a person of color as the moderator.
The woman-led group fired back in a statement accusing Mejia of lying, saying their intended moderator would have been a person of color. Mejia’s primary objection was not being able to control the selection process herself, according to the group.
Republican candidate Joe Hathaway has sharply criticized Democrat Analilia Mejia for dodging an in-person debate opportunity ahead of the April 16 special election. (Joe Hathaway Campaign; Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
BALLOT BOX SHOCKER: PROGRESSIVE BACKED BY SANDERS, AOC ON VERGE OF UPSET IN DEM CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARY
«We were asked to provide a campaign with a list of potential moderators for approval,» Jennifer Howard, LWV president, said in a release. «This is a request that the League of Women Voters cannot accommodate. Our nonpartisan stance does not permit a candidate to influence the selection of the moderator.»
Hathaway, a Randolph Township councilmember who faces an uphill battle to win the Democratic-leaning district, slammed Mejia for backing out of the planned debate.
«If she is willing to lie about something as simple as a debate, what other lies can we expect to hear from her tomorrow?» Hathaway told Fox News Digital.
«We will show a clear contrast between the practical common-sense leadership that I am running on, and the dangerous, radical, and socialist policies of my opponent,» he added.
When asked to comment on Monday, a spokesperson for the Mejia campaign said, «All Joe Hathaway does is complain. We will see him tomorrow.»
Analilia Mejia has embraced the «Abolish ICE» movement during her run for Congress. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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The Mejia campaign previously told Fox News Digital that she accepted the New Jersey Globe debate because the outlet met her diversity requirements and was closely following the race.
Mejia, a staunch progressive who served in a senior role in Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, has called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is a vocal critic of Israel.
The winner of the special election will face voters again in November for a full two-year term.
democrats elections, new jersey, alexandria ocasio cortez, house of representatives, politics
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