Hill liberals push for shutdown clash over ICE funding but face resistance in Democratic ranks

By Manu Raju, Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Congress’ most liberal Democrats are pushing for an all-out fight to rein in President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policy after this week’s deadly shooting by an ICE officer in Minnesota — even if it means risking another government shutdown.

But those progressives are running into resistance from others in the party who are eager to avoid another huge funding showdown with Trump, leaving Democrats divided in the final weeks before Washington’s January 30 spending deadline.

“I think it should be a red line,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a California Democrat, told CNN when asked if his party should insist on changes to ICE in the funding bill. “I think we should take a hard stand against this funding.”

Another liberal, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, has already begun to press his party leaders on forcing the issue.

“I just don’t understand how we provide votes for a bill that funds the extent of the depravity. I know we can’t fix everything in the appropriations bill but we should be looking at ways we can put some common-sense limitations on their ability to bring violence to our cities,” Murphy, a top Senate appropriator, told CNN.

Gomez and Murphy are among many enraged liberal Democrats who told CNN they want their party to force the White House to curb ICE’s powers using the upcoming spending battle. That includes dozens of members of the House’s Progressive Caucus and the Hispanic Caucus, who both discussed the issue at meetings earlier Thursday, according to multiple people who were in the meetings. But more moderate members of the party oppose the idea, which they see as unrealistic.

“I think there are other ways to deal with ICE,” Rep. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat who broke with her party to vote to the end the 43-day shutdown in November, told CNN.

Sen. Angus King, a centrist who caucuses with Democrats, said he supports making changes to ICE, but when asked about the push to force a funding showdown over ICE, added: “I never like shutdowns.”

Democratic leaders are, so far, giving no indication they’re willing to take the fight against ICE into the funding talks. Top Democrats seemed wary of another shutdown after the longest shutdown in history last year – which they felt they won politically because it forced Republicans to confront the issue of health care affordability. But they also did not win any legislative concessions on their chief demand: An extension of expiring enhanced Obamacare tax credits.

And an issue like immigration – which the GOP has typically dominated – is much more politically toxic. Many Democrats are uncertain about whether they would win a shutdown fight on that issue, particularly in the thick of a midterm year. Some battleground Democrats still privately resent their progressive colleagues’ “Abolish ICE” battle cry from prior elections, which they believe tarnished the party’s brand among swing voters.

Even if Congress is not pushed into a shutdown over the issue, the deadly shooting of a US citizen in Minnesota by an ICE agent is already scrambling the GOP’s funding strategy. House Republicans had planned to bring a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security to the floor next week as part of a bipartisan package – which would mark a major step forward for both parties after a year of gridlock. But two GOP sources told CNN on Thursday that the Homeland Security funding bill was running into major issues in the wake of the ICE shooting and may need to be pulled from the floor.

When asked if he’ll make immigration policy a red line in the funding fight, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN he was not yet focused on that issue.

“Our focus right now in terms of the appropriations bills are getting the three bills that are going to be on the floor today over the finish line, and then we’ll turn to the homeland security bill,” Jeffries said, referring to a separate package of funding bills that the House passed earlier Thursday. “We’ll figure out the accountability mechanisms at the appropriate time.”

And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer refused to say Thursday whether he would make the issue a chief demand in the Senate, where 60 votes would be needed to advance the funding legislation — meaning at least seven Democrats would have to vote for it.

“They will have a very important and serious discussion,” Schumer said when asked if he would make the issue a red line, referring to key Senate committees.

Asked if he wants to abolish ICE, Schumer would only say: “I have lots of problems with ICE.”

The split within the Democratic Party over whether to use government funding as leverage against Trump over immigration is another reminder of the party’s struggles to deploy its limited power in Congress in an effective way against the White House. As the party’s liberal base erupts in rage and demands action after high-profile clashes such as the fatal ICE shooting, top Democrats in Congress are clear-eyed about their limited authority to force any new restrictions, especially now that both parties are actually engaging in bipartisan funding talks, unlike in the fall.

That’s not enough for many House Democrats, who are making clear they want their party leaders to use the only real negotiating power they have from their perch in the minority. One of those members, Rep. Lou Correa of California, has already sent a letter to top appropriators demanding ICE accountability measures such as body cameras and new training measures.

Pressed on the potential of a shutdown, Rep. Robert Garcia of California told CNN, “I think we have to use everything that we can to stop ICE this moment. I think that’s going to be negotiated.”

“Nobody wants another government shutdown, but we have to force DHS and Kristi Noem to do the right thing,” he added.

Rep. Mark Pocan, a senior Wisconsin Democrat who sits on the House spending panel, was even more blunt.

“I don’t think there’s any way you’re going to see a Homeland Security appropriations budget get through Congress. I mean, the divide is too strong,” he told CNN, instead predicting a long-term funding extension.

Republicans don’t appear to have an appetite to have an immigration policy debate as part of the funding bill. One Senate GOP appropriator, Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, said any “reforms” that liberal Democrats might want should be done by the Judiciary committee, not appropriations.

Other Democrats in Congress distraught by the shooting told CNN they want more restrictions for ICE, but haven’t yet taken a position on how that should happen.

“I’m looking really hard at what it is that we can do to try to change the way that ICE is operating in my state and in states around the country. I think we have to figure out a strategy for that,” Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota told CNN, when asked about whether Democrats should go after ICE in the spending battle. “How do you just sort of fund all of that without asking any questions?”

Asked if Democrats’ push on ICE could lead to a shutdown, Smith told: “I don’t know. I’m not predicting that. But clearly, I think we need to do something.”

Some top Democrats are also deeply worried that failing to reach a funding deal with Republicans this month, including on the Department of Homeland Security, would end up handing the Trump administration even more discretion to determine how to spend Congress’ money, according to multiple people familiar with the funding talks.

They also point out that the vast majority of ICE’s funding came not through Congress’s bipartisan spending panels, but as part of Trump’s major domestic agenda bill last year. (That GOP bill authorized $170 billion for border security and ICE, compared to $66 billion in the Senate’s current funding bill.)

“Negotiations on the Homeland bill remain ongoing…we remain committed to working with our counterparts to get a bill done,” Rep. Henry Cuellar, the top Democrat on the Homeland spending panel told CNN in a text Wednesday evening. “The ICE shooting is a horrible tragedy and while we await more details to understand what happened there is increasing video evidence on social media that is overall concerning.”

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CNN’s Alison Main, Casey Riddle and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.