IFPTE Tells Senate Leadership to Pass Funding Bills that Have Bipartisan Support, Hold Homeland Security Funding Until Needed Oversight is Included
With the Senate Republican Leadership looking to advance a package of six appropriations bills that will not get bipartisan support due to the inclusion of Homeland Security funding, IFPTE sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) requesting they pass the five funding bills with bipartisan support and hold back the Homeland Security funding bill, which lacks the bipartisan support needed to pass the Senate.
Congress has passed and enacted six of the 12 Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) appropriation bills to fund the government, and the remaining six bills have been passed by the House of Representatives and await Senate passage. However, after the killing of Alex Pretti, a Veterans Administration nurse and AFGE union member, by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, the FY26 Homeland Security appropriations bill no longer has the 50 vote support needed for advancing to a Senate floor vote. Due to Senate Democrats call for restraining and preventing unconstitutional and unaccountable conduct by Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement operations, the six bill appropriations package’s failure to be enacted by January 30 will result in a partial government shutdown for gencies funded through the six appropations bills. Those agencies include the Department of Defense, the Social Security Agency, the Treasury Department, Health and Human Services,
In a letter to the Senate Leadership, IFPTE asked that “the FY26 Homeland Security appropriations bill to the Senate in the same manner that the House did – as a separate vote.” Failure to split the six bill appropriations package would mean that the whole package fails to be enacted and a partial shutdown begins on Saturday January 31. IFPTE’s letter notes, “Our federal sector membership knows that government shutdowns are costly and inefficient, cause economic harm, and hurt the government services and functions. We urge you not to hold five appropriations bills hostage to a Homeland Security appropriations bill that does not have the support to pass the Senate.”
The letter was also sent to all Members of the Senate.