The Lone Democratic Senator Who Voted for Funding DHS

With a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fast approaching, all but one Democratic Senator voted against advancing an appropriations bill to fund the department.

Congressional Democrats have refused to pass an annual DHS funding bill without new restrictions on federal immigration enforcement as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown draws widespread outcry. But Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a long-standing opponent of government shutdowns, on Thursday broke with his party and voted to advance a yearlong spending bill for the department that didn’t include such reforms.

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Fetterman warned that declining to fund DHS would have “zero impact on ICE functionality” but would impact other agencies housed under the department.

“Shutting DHS down has zero impact and zero changes for ICE. ICE already has $75B in funding from the BBB that I did not vote for,” Fetterman said in a video posted to his X account, referencing Trump’s“Big, Beautiful Bill.” The massive domestic policy bill included a hefty supplement to ICE’s base budget that the agency could tap amid the looming lapse in appropriations. 

“But it will hit FEMA, Coast Guard, TSA and our Cybersecurity Agency,” Fetterman continued., “As a Democrat, I can’t vote to shut down critical parts of our government.”

Read more: Looming Shutdown Could Mean Airport Delays as TSA Agents Face Work Without Pay

DHS is set to shut down at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday without a clear end in sight after lawmakers left Washington for a scheduled week-long recess on Thursday still unable to come to an agreement.

Amid the negotiations over funding for the department in recent weeks, anti-ICE activists have protested outside of Fetterman’s office in Philadelphia, where video showed them chanting “ICE out” and holding signs bearing messages including “FETTERMAN VOTE NO on DHS BILL.”

But Fetterman has never supported a halt in government funding since he took office in 2023, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. And this time around is no different, though the Pennsylvania Senator has joined many of his colleagues from both sides of the aisle in raising concerns about the tactics used in the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot two residents within less than three weeks last month.

Democrats have outlined demands for additional guardrails for immigration officers including requirements for agents to obtain court-issued warrants before entering private property and to clearly display their identification and badge numbers; limits on agents’ use of masks; increased use of body cameras; updated guidelines governing federal agents’ use of force; and measures to ensure that independent investigations be carried out in the case of shootings. 

Read more: How a Partial Government Shutdown Over ICE Would Impact Immigration Enforcement

The White House and many Republicans have argued that such restrictions would prevent agents from carrying out the President’s immigration agenda. 

“We’re talking, but we have to protect law enforcement,” Trump said to reporters on Friday. “I know what they want, I know what they can live with. The Democrats have gone crazy.”

A recent survey by Hart Research for a Senate Democrat-aligned group showed that 54% of likely midterm voters supported blocking DHS funding without reforms to ICE. A separate poll by Data for Progress showed that 56% of voters support funding the TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard while making additional funding for ICE conditional on reforms. 

“Country over party is refusing to hit the entire Department of Homeland Security,” Fetterman argued in a post on X on Friday. “Democracy demands a way forward to reform ICE without damaging our critical national security agencies.”