U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is followed by reporters as he walks to the Senate Chambers in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 27, 2026.
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Republican senators appear to be opening the door to preventing a partial government shutdown as the chamber prepares to start voting on a House-passed package to fully fund a bevy of federal agencies through the remaining fiscal year.
The Senate is set to vote on a set of six funding bills as early as Thursday morning. If they don’t pass all of them, much of the federal government would shut down at Friday at 12:01 ET.
The bills would fund the Department of Homeland Security and a swath of other agencies, including the Treasury and Defense Departments. While the package once looked certain to clear the Senate and avoid a shutdown, the killing of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents last week derailed it.
Democrats are demanding that the DHS portion of the bill be stripped from the package and weighed separately to make changes to how the agency operates, a move that Republicans have so far resisted. On Wednesday, some Senate Republicans began to embrace the idea of splitting off DHS as a shutdown looms just months after a record 43-day closure last year.
The measure will require 60 votes to clear the Senate filibuster. Republicans only hold 53 seats in the upper chamber, meaning Democrats can block it if they withhold their votes.
“Rather than scuttling the whole package, I say let’s go and pass what we can,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said in an interview with reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday.
“I think all the bills will pass except Homeland Security, and then we can sit down and talk about Homeland Security,” Kennedy, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said.
Asked how many of his Republican colleagues support such a move, Kennedy said: “A bunch.”
Indeed, numerous Republicans said on Wednesday that while they would like to see the entire package pass the Senate, splitting off DHS is a palatable off-ramp.
“We are going to see what happens when that vote comes up,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., another appropriator. “[But] if the Democrats block it, [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer has already said that he’s willing to move the five, and so I certainly have an open mind on that.”
Sen Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told CNBC that if Democrats are “okay with five of the six bills,” then “we ought to figure out a way to get those done.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a press conference Wednesday that such proposals are so far “hypotheticals” and that he would “reserve optionality.”
“I think the best path forward, as I’ve said, is to keep the package intact,” Thune said. “If there are things that the Democrats want that the administration can agree with them about, then let’s do that.”
Democrats are warning that a separate negotiation with the administration would not be enough to assuage their concerns. President Donald Trump has attempted a turnabout in recent days after the fallout from the shooting in Minnesota, recently saying he will de-escalate his immigration crackdown in the state.
“This has to be in the bill,” said Sen. Angus King, an independent of Maine who caucuses with Democrats. “I don’t think we could settle for promises.” King repeatedly voted to reopen the government during the last shutdown, bucking his caucus.
“I can’t in good conscience vote for a DHS budget under these circumstances,” King said, calling for the DHS component to be separated so the rest of the bills can pass. DHS is conducting immigration operations in Maine.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, arrives for a vote in the Capitol on Thursday, September 28, 2023.
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Schumer, D-N.Y., listed Democrats’ demands in a press conference on Wednesday.
He said Democrats want a DHS funding package to include new guardrails for federal immigration enforcement. Those guardrails include a requirement for warrants for arrests, a ban on federal agents wearing masks, mandatory body cameras and a uniform code of conduct for federal agents.
“Democrats stand ready today to pass the five bipartisan bills in the Senate, but the DHS bill needs serious work,” Schumer said. “It’s now on Leader Thune to separate out the DHS bill … and start working with Democrats to rein in ICE.”
Republicans appear to be plowing ahead with plans to vote on all six bills.
“We’re voting on this tomorrow,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. “Anything can change in 24 hours, but our plan is to vote on six bills.”
Should that vote fail and Senate Republicans decide to split off the DHS portion, it would likely require a unanimous consent request on the Senate floor to alter the bill, given the short timeline. Any one senator could object to such a move, drawing out the timeline and further risking a shutdown.
“I’ve got concerns with that, but I’d have to examine it,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, when asked by CNBC if he would object to stripping out the DHS bill from the package.
Republicans also note that a shutdown at DHS alone would also mean that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would go unfunded during a winter cold snap that has covered millions of Americans in ice and snow. King suggested that a short-term continuing resolution could keep FEMA and other agencies afloat.
Any changes the Senate makes to the package would also require reapproval by the House. The House is out of Washington on recess, with plans to return next week — after the shutdown deadline.
“If the bill changes much from what the House already passed, then you’ve got another steep hill to climb over there,” Thune said.
DHS would largely also be able to keep operating its immigration enforcement apparatus even if it enters into a shutdown. Republicans gave the agency hundreds of billions of dollars in supplemental appropriations as part of the tax and spending package passed last year.