From Schumer Shutdown to Stand-Down?

Nearly three months ago, Chuck Schumer got pushed into turning the budget deadline into a hostage to reverse the GOP's reconciliation bill. He lost. Now it appears that Democrats may have learned a lesson from Schumer Shutdown, and at a surprising time.

For weeks, it has been clear that Democrat leadership had decided to avoid another shutdown, but the escalation from the progressive Left on immigration enforcement created a new complication. Part of the remaining funding left to be negotiated involves the Department of Homeland Security, and the radicals want that blocked until Donald Trump backs down on ICE operations in sanctuary states and cities. This time, it appears the adults won the battle, at least if Politico has the story correct on the new omnibus for the FY2026 budget:

The bicameral breakthrough on funding for the Pentagon and the nation’s largest nondefense agencies is the product of private negotiations between top appropriators in the two months since Congress ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

House leaders plan to hold a vote later in the week on the legislation, which would boost defense funding to more than $839 billion. It would also fund the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Education, and Homeland Security.

After the fatal shooting by an ICE agent in Minneapolis this month, congressional Democrats have demanded that any new DHS funding come with conditions to crack down on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, even as many Democratic voters call for defunding the agency.

The final compromise would keep ICE funded at $10 billion for the fiscal year that ends in September, while reducing the agency’s budget for enforcement and removal efforts. It would mandate that DHS use $20 million to outfit immigration enforcement agents with body cameras, direct the department to give officers more training on diffusing conflict while interacting with the public and provide $20 million for independent oversight of DHS detention facilities.

Pedant alert: The proper term is "defusing," not "diffusing." In fact, "de-escalation" is the most proper term, and that kind of training is certainly worthwhile. In fact, some blue-state leaders might consider sitting in on a few classes, but there's nothing wrong with Congress providing funds for better training. 

Progressive Democrats wanted much more in "reforms" of ICE, much of which would have handcuffed immigration enforcement altogether. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) complained publicly about funding "the out-of-control agency" at all. So why push through this omnibus? First, another shutdown would impact agencies that Democrats need for their own agenda, especially HUD and Education. More importantly, the White House already has funding for ICE available through another shutdown:

Democrats note that federal cash would stop flowing to other agencies, including TSA and FEMA, if Congress allows DHS funding to lapse, while the Trump administration could continue funding ICE with the pot of $75 billion Republicans enacted for immigration enforcement through the party-line tax and spending package they enacted last summer. The other alternative — running DHS on a stopgap funding patch — would maintain the status quo for money and policy while giving the Trump administration more discretion in how to use DHS cash.

That's what we call "leverage." The GOP foresaw this problem long before the first shutdown and prepared ICE for it. The omnibus bill will create new mandates and potential limitations on ICE operations, especially in detention facilities, which Democrats claim are operated in an unconscionable manner (without providing any evidence for it). Having that kind of influence is better than getting cut out of the loop.

Interestingly, Democrats caved on the ObamaCare subsidies, too. The new omnibus does not extend the pandemic subsidies, Politico reports. That is the subject of separate negotiations, but also, Republicans have the option of creating a new reconciliation package to address the larger health-care reform package that Trump teased last week. In the meantime, though, Democrats probably feel that the increased costs to middle-class subscribers hurts Republicans more than Democrats, and that may not be an erroneous assumption. 

Between this bill and another passed last week in the House that funds Treasury and the State Department, this should end the fight over the FY2026 budget. Congress has ten days to pass both bills and get them to Trump for his signature, but if this is a bipartisan and bicameral agreement, as Politico reports, that should be more than sufficient. We will have gone from the Schumer Shutdown to the Schumer Stand-Down, with practically nothing changing at all except the lessons learned. For now, anyway. 

Editor’s Note: After more than 40 days of screwing Americans, Dems finally caved. The Schumer Shutdown was never about principle—just inflicting pain for political points. They own this.

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