Photos of Alex Pretti in front of his home on January 26, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pretti, an ICU nurse at a Virginia state medical center, died Jan. 25 after being shot multiple times during a brief altercation with Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday urged Senate Democrats to speed up a government funding package that must become law by the weekend to avoid a partial shutdown, rejecting their proposal to scrap the Homeland Security Financing Act.
Upper House Democrats say they are willing to assist pass five of six bills, but insist that homeland security spending measures be repealed and renegotiated to include more restrictions on federal immigration enforcement after killing the officers second American citizen in Minnesota this weekend.
“We absolutely do not want to see this funding expire and we want the Senate to make progress in passing a bipartisan package of appropriations that was negotiated on a bipartisan basis,” Leavitt said.
Over the past few months, congressional negotiators have reached bipartisan consensus on each of the dozen bills covering year-round government spending, although the final bills still need to be approved by the Senate and become law.
Funding for hundreds of programs under this measure expires at midnight Friday, when the ephemeral spending bill takes effect Congress approved after the last shutdown ends, it expires.
A partial work suspension would impact the Departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, State, Transportation and Treasury. If a solution cannot be found in time, the Executive Office of the President, the Supreme Court and the judiciary will also be left without financial resources.
Leavitt said during the briefing that “there are political discussions going on in Minnesota about immigration” and pointed to call which President Donald Trump and Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz discussed earlier in the day.
“But it should not be at the expense of government funding for the American people, which would include funding for FEMA,” Leavitt said. “We are in the middle of this weekend’s storm, and many Americans are still feeling its effects.”
The Homeland Security Appropriations Act funds numerous programs in addition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. The Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Flood Insurance Fund, the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration are just some of the agencies that rely on the budget authority bill.
Schumer demands removal of DHS bill
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement that Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. should remove the Homeland Security Financing Act from the larger package before the deadline to avoid funding disruptions.
“The responsibility to prevent a partial government shutdown rests with Leader Thune and Senate Republicans,” he wrote. “If Leader Thune introduces these five bills this week, we can pass them immediately. If not, Republicans will again be responsible for another government shutdown.”
Senate Appropriations Chairman Susan Collins, R-Maine, in a brief speech urged lawmakers of both political parties to vote to advance the full funding package, calling the possibility of another shutdown “harmful, unnecessary and disastrous.”
“I hope we can come together constructively to do this and prevent a dangerous and harmful government shutdown,” she said.
Collins claimed responsibility for the murder of Alex Pretti over the weekend, saying his “tragic death” had “refocused attention on the Homeland Security Act, I recognize that and I share the concerns.”
“I want to bring to the attention of my colleagues that there are many protections in this bill that I encourage you to review,” Collins added, without going into detail. “And that the vast majority of the funds provided in this bill, over 80%, are earmarked for functions unrelated to immigration and overseas security functions.”
A Senate Republican aide who was not authorized to speak publicly said GOP leaders “are determined to prevent another government shutdown.”
“We will proceed as planned and we hope that Democrats will find a way to join us,” the aide added.
A Senate Democratic leadership adviser said that “Republicans and the White House have engaged in contact but have not yet come up with any realistic solutions.”
“Government shutdowns won’t help anyone.”
Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Katie Britt, R-Ala., wrote in a social media post that a number of programs in the bill “are critical to keeping Americans safe and must be funded.”
“We know from recent history that government shutdowns help no one and are not in the best interests of the American people,” Britt wrote, referring to the historic shutdown that ended on November 12. “As we approach the government funding deadline, I remain committed to finding a path forward.”
Ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee, Chris Murphy, R-Conn., said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash” that he could not “vote to fund this unlawful Department of Homeland Security.”
“And remember, it’s not just in Minnesota. They’re breaking the law all over the country,” Murphy said. “I spent the last week in Texas, where they lock up 2-year-old and 3-year-old children who are in the United States legally just to traumatize them.”
Fetterman and Shaheen break up
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman appeared to be the only member of his party in the chamber to support the entire package, writing in a statement that he “will never vote to shut down our government, especially our Department of Defense.”
“I reject calls to defund or dismantle ICE. I strongly disagree with many of the ICE policies and practices implemented in Minneapolis and believe this must change,” Fetterman wrote. “I want a conversation about the DHS appropriations bill and support for removing it from the minibus. It is unlikely that this will happen and our country will experience another shutdown.”
New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen supported a strategy to withdraw the homeland security spending bill and allow the remaining five government funding bills to go into effect before the shutdown deadline.
“The Senate must therefore have a real bipartisan discussion on what additional reforms we need to make to prevent tragedies like Minneapolis across the country,” Shaheen wrote in a social media post. “I will vote against funding DHS until additional reforms are implemented.”
