Republican fears that the US budget system is no longer fit for purpose under Donald Trump have intensified in Washington, where GOP senators spent this week in the Capitol scrambling to end a two‑month shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security and warning that Democrats could force even broader government closures later this year.
The immediate crisis centres on thepartial shutdown of Homeland Security, which has already become thelongest in the department's history, surpassing last autumn's 43‑day federal shutdown driven by a separate fight over healthcare subsidies. This time, the flashpoint is immigration enforcement. Democrats have resisted long‑term funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol while Trump is in the White House, and Republicans now concede they are braced for another showdown in September, just weeks before Americans vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is trying to wrest back some control. He plans to push a budget resolution through the chamber that would serve as a framework for a reconciliation bill later in the spring. That bill, if it survives intact, would allow Republicans to fund ICE and Border Patrol through 2029 using the fast‑track reconciliation process, which sidesteps a Democratic filibuster.
Thune says even that may not be enough to avoid another stop‑start autumn. He argues that Democrats are simply unwilling to sign off on robust immigration enforcement while Donald Trump remains president, and that the entire appropriations process is at risk of becoming unworkable.
'I'm very concerned about the appropriations process,' he said, adding that he does not see Democrats agreeing to fund ICE and the Border Patrol during Trump's term. In his view, repeated shutdowns are not a bug in the system any more, but a tool that the opposition is prepared to use.
Other Republican senators have been blunter still, openly accusing Democrats of weaponising shutdowns to damage a Republican‑run Washington ahead of the November elections.
'You can bet on it that that's Chuck Schumer's game plan, to shut the government down at every chance he gets,' said Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas. He backed passing 'whatever legislation necessary' to avoid a fresh shutdown in the autumn, but framed Democrats as eager to embrace 'more chaos' in order to hurt the party in power.
Democrats, for their part, flatly reject the idea that they are playing games with federal workers' livelihoods. They argue that in a Washington dominated by Republicans loyal to Donald Trump, their leverage over funding bills is one of the few ways they can push for policies that poll well nationally, such as extending ObamaCare subsidies or tightening rules on immigration enforcement.
Still, Republicans say they see a pattern. Senator Ted Cruz, speaking on CNBC'sSquawk Box, went so far as to lay down a cash prediction.
'I will wager, right now, $100, that Schumer intends — on Oct. 1 — to do the same thing, to shut the whole federal government down for a month, so that on Election Day, the government is shut down, you have four‑hour lines again in airports, and the Democrats can say, 'See, the Republicans are in charge, they don't know what they're doing,'' Cruz said.
Source: International Business Times UK
