Democratic senators vow to block DHS funding bill after a second fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis, increasing the likelihood of a US government shutdown
WASHINGTON: Multiple US senators said they would vote against upcoming government spending bills after federal agents killed a second American citizen in Minneapolis.
This opposition significantly increases the chances of a government shutdown next week.
Funding for large parts of the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon, expires on January 31.
The Republican-led House of Representatives has passed the funding through September, but it still requires approval in the Senate.
President Donald Trump’s Republican Party also narrowly controls the 100-member upper chamber, but does not have enough votes to pass spending bills without Democratic support.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”
Republicans had hoped to secure a few Democratic votes on the spending package, despite it including full funding for DHS.
“I will not support the current Homeland Security funding bill,” Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, one of the possible swing voters, said in a statement.
The Nevada senator said the Trump administration and DHS chief Kristi Noem are “putting undertrained, combative federal agents on the streets with no accountability.”
The killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis nurse, comes just three weeks after another Minnesota resident, 37-year-old Renee Good, was also shot and killed by a federal agent.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia said “this brutal crackdown has to end” in a post on X reacting to Pretti’s death.
“I cannot and will not vote to fund DHS while this administration continues these violent federal takeovers of our cities,” he added.
The longest government shutdown in US history ended last November after 43 days.
Senate rules require 60 votes to pass spending bills, and the growing number of Democratic lawmakers withdrawing support made another shutdown increasingly possible.
