REPORT: Dem senators call to fund DHS after voting to block it 4 times amid shutdown fight

March 16, 2026

From Fox News: Senate Democrats say they want to end the government shutdown but have repeatedly blocked GOP attempts to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they push for immigration enforcement reforms.

On Friday, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said at a news conference following an antisemitic attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in her state that “certainly” Congress must fund DHS.

However, Slotkin and most Senate Democrats have voted four times to block DHS funding, including several attempts to temporarily reopen the agency while negotiations continue.

Slotkin is just one of several Senate Democrats calling for an end to the shutdown. Republicans argue the votes are part of a broader Democratic strategy to blame them for blocking efforts to reopen DHS.

Defiantly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), still holding out on funding DHS as a whole, has accused Republicans of using the federal workers under Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as “hostages” and declared, “I remind my Republican colleagues, we’re going to be back here again and again, winning this debate and eventually winning the American people.”

However, other Democrats are beginning to fold, including Slotkin, and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

So far, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. has been the lone Democrat to cross the aisle and support a full-year DHS appropriations bill.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is still holding out, declaring, “Democrats’ position is simple: we want reforms to rein in ICE and Border Patrol. We also want TSA and FEMA funded — but we are not going to be blackmailed into cutting a blank check for ICE to get it done.”

Democrat Senator Elissa Slotkin — who voted to shut down DHS, and knows ICE is already funded — admits Democrats need to reopen DHS at a time when terrorists want to attack our country.

SLOTKIN: “Certainly, we need to fund the Department of Homeland Security.” pic.twitter.com/VWo3a2eNuQ

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 13, 2026