White House, Johnson close out Homeland Security negotiations holding up final funding deal

Top negotiators have locked in a bipartisan deal on full-year funding for the Department of Homeland Security, allowing congressional leaders to put the finishing touches on a broader spending agreement in the coming days, according to two sources familiar with the talks. A short stopgap funding patch could still be needed to head off a partial government shutdown at midnight Saturday morning for the Pentagon and many key non-defense agencies, since bill text is likely to take at least another day to finalize. The fiscal 2024 accord on Homeland Security cash follows days of harried negotiations and a last-minute intervention from the White House over the weekend, with Biden administration officials rejecting a fallback plan that would have saddled the agency with stagnant funding through September. The White House had insisted that a year-long stopgap for DHS would prove detrimental to border security efforts, in anticipation of a migration surge this spring. The Homeland Security spending measure joins five other bills needed to fund about 70 percent of the federal government, including the military and major health programs, before a partial government shutdown hits Saturday after midnight. The eleventh hour negotiations over DHS, the most contentious of the spending bills, has pushed Congress perilously closer to that deadline. Legislative text of the six-bill funding bundle is now expected late Tuesday or Wednesday, potentially teeing up a House vote on Friday at the earliest, if Speaker Mike Johnson adheres to a pledge to give Republicans 72 hours to review legislative text. Once the package passes the House, Senate leaders will need consent from all 100 senators to ensure speedy votes on the spending package. That task is already expected to be politically tricky, with Republicans likely to demand a swath of amendment votes on issues ranging from immigration to earmarks. Besides budgets for the military and DHS, the package congressional leaders are aiming to clear for Biden’s signature in the coming days covers funding for health, education, housing and labor programs. It also includes funding for foreign operations, the IRS, congressional operations and the District of Columbia, along with the departments of State and Treasury. Lead Art: President Joe Biden walks with Jason Owens (left), the Chief of U.S. Border Patrol, as he visits the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas, on Feb. 29, 2024. | Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images A Border Patrol agent walks along a border wall separating Tijuana, Mexico, from San Diego. 1 DAY AGO Homeland security battle pushes much of government perilously close to Saturday shutdown The prolonged impasse over border funding leaves little room for delay in a Capitol where things can easily go off the rails. By CAITLIN EMMA and JENNIFER SCHOLTES03/18/2024, 2:21PM ET President Joe Biden’s late-stage bid to save the Department of Homeland Security from a flat budget is pushing Congress perilously close to a Saturday shutdown of most of the federal government. Heading into the November election, Biden is under increasing pressure to counter Republican attacks that his administration is failing to address spiking migration at the southern border, particularly as officials anticipate a spring surge with warmer weather. The Homeland Security spending bill likely represents the last chance for congressional leaders and the White House to boost budgets for border security and related matters following last month's collapse of a bipartisan immigration deal in the Senate. Which means the stakes are high for the current impasse over the DHS budget as funding for more than 70 percent of the federal government is set to expire at week's end, including military and foreign operations spending, plus federal health, education and housing programs. "This is obviously an administration that is hopeful," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday afternoon, "and hopes that Congress gets to the bottom of this and gets to a point where we keep the government open." Not ruling out a funding lapse, Jean-Pierre added that it is Congress' "basic duty" to adequately fund federal efforts. "As you know, the shutdown is set for this coming Friday," she said. "And we want to certainly get to a place where DHS has what it needs to continue the operational pace that they've been having." Top lawmakers have considered endgame negotiations on the Homeland Security funding bill as perhaps the most troublesome in the entire package ever since Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan border and foreign aid deal. Thanks to funding limits set by last summer’s bipartisan debt package, Congress is working with very little extra money and competing priorities when it comes to border personnel, security, humanitarian needs and more. Dems, GOP rage as border deal collapses SharePlay Video “Republicans had their chance to write immigration policy. They threw it out the window. So we're not going to write immigration policy on an appropriations bill,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), leader of the subpanel in charge of Homeland Security funding, said last week. Thanks to an eleventh-hour push by the White House, negotiators are now speeding to save DHS from stagnant funding through the rest of the fiscal year. Lawmakers had initially accepted that fallback option in the interest of closing out talks on the most contentious spending bill in Congress’ second six-bill bundle to fund the government. But the Biden administration pushed back, arguing that a stopgap funding patch would hamstring agencies already struggling to address migration on the southern border. The prolonged talks mean that House and Senate votes on any spending agreement will likely get pushed to Friday — leaving little room for delay in both chambers where things can easily go off the rails, right up against the partial shutdown deadline. Besides the DHS funding bill, the five other measures in the package have been finalized. But the entire spending package is expected to hinge on the fate of the border and immigration negotiations, since it is politically unworkable to try to pass the homeland security bill on its own once the military and key non-defense agencies are fully funded. Further increasing pressure on top lawmakers to wrap up funding negotiations: Both the House and Senate are scheduled to adjourn on Friday for a two-week recess. Conservatives complain that aligning the government shutdown deadline with that scheduled departure is a typical ploy to force agreement on a massive funding package that will be unveiled late. “It shouldn’t be lost on anyone,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), “that they set this up in that way to create this sort of contrived emergency, against which they want the ability to message against anyone expressing concerns about the bill of desiring a shutdown, which is completely disingenuous and wildly unprofessional.” Adam Cancryn contributed to this report. Lead Art: The Homeland Security spending bill likely represents the last chance for congressional leaders and the White House to boost budgets for border security and related matters following last month's collapse of a bipartisan immigration deal in the Senate. | Gregory Bull/AP 1 DAY AGO Sen. Lindsey Graham met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, where the Ukrainian leader said he "informed Senator Graham of the frontline situation and our army's priority needs." Graham (R-S.C.) recently skipped the Munich Security Conference and opposed a proposed supplemental that would have provided aid to Ukraine over its border security provisions. The US embassy in Ukraine also posted images from Graham's visit. Anthony Adragna ANTHONY ADRAGNA 03/18/2024, 12:44PM ET Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) departs a meeting at the U.S. Capitol. 1 DAY AGO Tester campaign plans seven-figure push to bring out Montana tribal voters There could be as many as 60,000 votes at stake, and Democrats intend to get them to the polls in November. Natalie Fertig NATALIE FERTIG 03/18/2024, 10:00AM ET Montana Democrats launched a million-dollar voting initiative Monday that will work to turn out Montana’s tribal voters for Jon Tester in his toughest Senate race yet. Native American voters have been helping the Democratic senator since he first won his seat in 2006. Tribal members make up nearly seven percent of Montana’s population, and the Democratic-leaning voting bloc could be pivotal to determining next year’s Senate majority. The campaign, titled Big Sky Victory, plans to revive their digital outreach program from the 2018 campaign, while also employing more than 50 organizers across the state and 20 offices, including Native organizers and offices in tribal communities In 2018, Tester’s campaign spent just more than $600,000 on a tribal voting initiative, including a sweeping Facebook ad campaign featuring members of six Montana tribes. Many of them urged tribal members to vote for Tester in their native language. In 2024, the campaign plans to double their base spend to energize the Native vote. “Jon Tester will lead us into battle,” a member of the Fort Peck tribe said in one ad, in both the Dakota language and English, urging viewers to “vote Jon Tester on Nov. 6.” “Big Sky Victory is the earliest, best-funded organizing program Montana has ever seen, and we’re ready to hit the ground running,” Montana Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign Director Nick Marroletti said in a statement. There are about 60,000 eligible Native American voters in Montana, and Tester won in 2018 by just 18,000 votes. Native voters are “hugely important to the Democratic base,” said Jim Messina, an Obama White House alum and former adviser to Tester with deep political roots in Montana. Messina referenced Tester cutting into Republican Sen. Conrad Burns’ support among Native Americans in 2006, which helped him unseat the incumbent. “Indian Country is facing tough battles in 2024, and the outcome of this election couldn’t be more important,” said Blackfoot tribal member Cinda Burd Ironmaker, the Native vote political director for the Montana Democratic Party who has been put in charge of the initiative. “With this historic organizing effort, Native voters will have a powerful voice in 2024 and elect Jon Tester and our other Democratic candidates this November.” Funding is a key element that is often lacking in Montana when it comes to turning out Native American voters. Some majority-Native American counties have consistently lower turnout rates than majority-white counties. Three of Montana’s largest majority-Native American counties — Glacier, Big Horn and Roosevelt — were also three of the counties with the lowest turnout rates in 2020. While the statewide average in 2020 was 81 percent, all three failed to break 70 percent. Tribal voters face hurdles common in rural areas like long distances to drive to polling locations, a lack of formal addresses and poor cell phone service — as well as state laws that make it harder for them to vote. In 2022, a Montana judge struck down two laws passed by the state’s Legislature in 2021 on the grounds that they disproportionately hampered the ability of Native Americans to vote. Overcoming these hurdles takes funding — something Native American voting advocates have been asking for. “We have seen where there's been enough money … we've been nearly able to close that Native to white voting gap,” says Bret Healy, a consultant with multi-state nonprofit Four Directions Native Vote. “But it takes extraordinary resources.” The Montana GOP did not immediately comment in response to the initiative. CLARIFICATION: This report has been updated to clarify the makeup of the initiative’s staff. Lead Art: Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) departs a meeting at the U.S. Capitol. | Francis Chung/POLITICO The U.S. Capitol building is seen in Washington. 1 DAY AGO Lawmakers scramble to avert partial shutdown after weekend border security standoff With a shutdown looming, congressional leaders are working to finalize their six-measure spending package. By CAITLIN EMMA and JENNIFER SCHOLTES03/18/2024, 8:16AM ET Congressional leaders aren’t likely to release bill text Monday, despite projections over the weekend, for the six-measure spending package that would finally close out prolonged government funding talks, according to two people familiar with the talks. Leading negotiators are still haggling over the spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, following last-minute involvement from the White House over the weekend. The discussions, which involve tricky immigration issues, are holding up the release of legislative text, pushing Congress dangerously close to a partial shutdown that would hit most of the federal government after midnight on Saturday morning. Leaders had initially hoped to have bill text over the weekend, then said that would slip to Monday. Now, even that seems unlikely. DHS is now expected to be funded under a fresh bill within the six-measure package, rather than at static budget totals first enacted well over a year ago, after the White House rejected that lengthy stopgap proposal. The administration has insisted that stagnant funding will prove detrimental to border security needs, especially as border officials anticipate a spring surge. With Congress once again facing a partial government shutdown at week’s end — this time for the Pentagon and many other key non-defense agencies — both Republicans and Democrats have accused the other side of brinkmanship at such a late stage. A senior GOP aide said the White House is guilty of a “delay in communicating” the funding needs of DHS, pushing negotiations to “the brink of a shutdown.” And a White House official claimed over the weekend that Republicans are attempting to “sow chaos on the border ahead of November.” Besides the Pentagon and DHS, the legislation would fund foreign operations and the IRS, along with education, health and labor programs. It also covers funding for congressional operations and the District of Columbia, plus the departments of State and Treasury. Debuting bill text as early as Tuesday could push a House vote to the very end of the week, since GOP leaders like to give lawmakers a full 72 hours to review bill text. But Senate leaders would then need to quickly lock in a time agreement to make sure the legislation can head to President Joe Biden’s desk by Friday night. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.