WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats blocked a spending bill Thursday that would have funded the Department of Homeland Security past a Friday night shutdown deadline without adding any new restrictions on immigration enforcement, an expected outcome after bipartisan talks on limiting President Donald Trump’s crackdown deadlocked.

With the funding deadline less than 36 hours away, Republicans tried to advance a bill that the House approved last month to fund the department through September, which Democrats blocked two weeks ago as they insisted on new measures to rein in federal immigration agents.

The proposal, which contained modest guardrails far short of Democrats’ demands, fell short of the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster. The vote was 52-47.

As they prepared to block the legislation, Democrats said Thursday’s announcement by Tom Homan, the border czar, that the administration would pull immigration agents from Minnesota and end its crackdown there was not sufficient to get them to back down on their demands.

“Abuses cannot be solved merely through executive fiat alone,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader. “Without legislation, what Tom Homan says today could be reversed tomorrow on a whim from” the president.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the majority leader, pushed for another stopgap bill that would keep funds flowing. Thune said Thursday that Democrats should support interim funding since the administration had submitted a “reasonable good-faith offer” for guardrails on immigration enforcement, and he pointed to the announcement by Homan.

“Maybe there’s some more ground the White House could give on a couple of fronts,” Thune said. “I don’t know. But I think right now, at least, there ought to be an understanding that these discussions need to continue, and that a solution is at least in sight and we ought to keep the government open.”

Outraged after federal immigration officers fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month, Democrats have drawn a hard line on DHS funding and believe they have public opinion on their side. They said the administration’s proposal fell far short of what would be required to persuade them to back even short-term funding.

“Half measures will not cut it,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “We cannot kick the can down the road.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Michael Gold and Carl Hulse/Eric Lee
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