House Freedom Caucus leaders are warning they will oppose a proposal favored by Senate Democrats to send an amended spending package back across the Capitol without Department of Homeland Security funding.
The ultimatum from the hard-right group comes as top leaders try to find a way to avoid a partial government shutdown late this week after Saturday’s DHS-involved shooting in Minneapolis threw the massive funding package passed by the House last week into jeopardy. Members of the group could potentially tank procedural votes required to advance any alternative funding package.
In a letter to President Donald Trump sent Tuesday, senior members of the group said they would “not allow Democrats to strip [DHS] funding out to pass other appropriations separately.”
“We cannot support giving Democrats the ability to control the funding of our Department of Homeland Security,” they added.
Senate Democrats want to break up the six-bill package sent over from the House, stripping out the DHS funding to renegotiate terms following the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti. But House GOP leaders privately believe that would open a new “hellscape” in the funding talks within the divided House Republican conference.