House and Senate leaders were hoping to release the second spending package this weekend to avoid a shutdown after Friday. That did not happen.
Both parties are blaming protracted talks related to the Department of Homeland Security. With the bipartisan border bill dead and the national security supplemental stalled, the election year immigration fight is now focused on the remaining fiscal 2024 minibus.
“Republicans want to underfund DHS, which makes the border less secure and the country less safe,” a White House official told POLITICO over the weekend. They were granted anonymity to speak candidly.
The remarks follow the administration’s playbook of wanting to make Republicans seem weak on immigration as they accuse the president of causing a border crisis.
