30-Second Senate Session Leaves Shutdown in Place

Senate Republicans had a brief shot Monday to try to break the Department of Homeland Security funding stalemate; they let it pass. During a 30-second pro forma session, GOP leaders opted not to attempt a House-backed eight-week funding extension, which Democrats had vowed to block. Republican Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, who presided, said Republicans "weren't quite ready" and would keep negotiating, leaving the DHS shutdown—now in its seventh week—in place while Congress is on a two-week recess, the New York Times reports.

Democrats, who could have blocked the measure with a single objection, insist the Senate's earlier bipartisan bill, which funds most of DHS but not immigration enforcement, is the cleanest way out. The House rejected that measure and instead passed its own short-term extension, which lacks the votes to clear the Senate. President Trump is pressuring Senate Republicans to take a harder line, including scrapping the filibuster—an option GOP leaders say they don't have the votes to pursue.

Republicans are now eyeing a separate three-year DHS funding plan that would bypass a filibuster through the budget reconciliation process, a move that could take months and land them in a politically risky series of votes ahead of the midterms. "We're not going through this again with the Dems, OK?" Hoeven said Monday, per the Hill. He complained that Democrats had rejected offers to make a deal despite multiple concessions from the administration. "We're taking this off the table. That's enough of this with the Democrats," he said. "We're going to fund DHS for the next three years."