The risk of a partial government shutdown is increasing as we approach the January 30 deadline. Congress must either enact another Continuing Resolution (CR) or full spending bills, or it risks a partial government shutdown that would impact 75% of the federal discretionary budget.
Senate Majority Leader Thune (R-SD) is reportedly trying to find a compromise that would allow the Senate to enact its spending bills by the January 30 deadline and avoid a partial shutdown. He is encouraging the Administration to work directly with Senate Democrats to negotiate administrative policy changes (ie. not legislative changes) to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations so that Congress can enact the six remaining spending bills as currently written. It is unclear whether any promises made by the Administration would satisfy Democrats' concerns.
If the Senate were to make changes to the spending bill for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it would guarantee at least a short-term partial shutdown. The House is currently on recess until Monday, February 2, the soonest it could vote on another spending package unless House leadership agreed to call back its members early.
While Democrats have proposed stripping DHS funding from the legislative package, this change could only occur if all 100 Senators agreed, and several Senate Republicans would likely block that approach.
The Senate is slated to vote on the legislative package - including DHS funding, but without the policy changes Democrats are advocating for - on Thursday.