US Senate passes deal expected to shorten government shutdown

WASHINGTON - US senators on Jan 30 approved a last-minute deal backed by President Donald Trump to avert the worst impacts of an

imminent government shutdown,

after Democratic anger over the killing of two protesters by immigration agents derailed funding talks.

A shutdown is still set to begin on Jan 31 because the House of Representatives is out of session until Feb 2, meaning it cannot ratify the upper chamber’s agreement before the midnight deadline – making a weekend funding lapse unavoidable.

Senate leaders say the legislation will nonetheless greatly increase the chances that the shutdown ends quickly, potentially within days.

The funding impasse has been driven by Democratic anger over aggressive immigration enforcement following the fatal shootings of protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both 37, by federal agents in separate incidents this month in the northern city of Minneapolis.

The deaths have become a flashpoint that has hardened opposition to approving new money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without changes to how immigration agencies operate.

Under the deal negotiated between the White House and Senate Democratic leaders, lawmakers approved five outstanding funding bills to finance most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year in September.

Funding for DHS, which oversees immigration enforcement, was split off and extended for just two weeks under a stopgap measure intended to give lawmakers time to negotiate changes to the department’s operations.

Mr Trump, a Republican, publicly endorsed the deal and urged both parties to support it, signaling his desire to avoid a second shutdown of his second term, following a record 43-day stoppage last summer.

Much of the US media interpreted the White House’s flexibility as a recognition that it needed to moderate its deportation approach following the Minneapolis killings.

Shutdowns temporarily freeze funding for non-essential federal operations, forcing agencies to halt services, place workers on unpaid leave or require them to work without pay.

Departments ranging from defence, education and transportation to housing and financial regulation would be affected in a prolonged shutdown, while pressure would mount quickly to resolve disruptions rippling through the economy.

‘Sanctuary cities’

Ironically, Mr Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – the agency at the centre of the immigration crackdown controversy – would be largely unaffected, since it was allocated some US$75 billion (S$95.2 billion) over four years in his 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

And a weekend-long stoppage, with a quick resolution in the House on Feb 2, would have a negligible impact on federal operations.

South Carolina’s Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, had blocked the package on the night of Jan 29 by withholding the unanimous consent required to fast-track the vote.

He cited objections to the DHS stopgap and to House-passed language barring senators from suing the Justice Department if their phone records were seized during past investigations.

On the morning of Jan 30, however, he announced he would allow the funding bill to advance if Senate leaders agreed to hold votes on legislation he is sponsoring to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities” that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

“The American people overwhelmingly support ending sanctuary city policies. In my view, sanctuary city policies are the root cause of the problems we face,” he said in a statement.

The broader funding fight has left both parties bracing for at least a brief shutdown. Congress has already passed six of the 12 annual budget bills, but those measures cover only a minority of discretionary spending.

The remaining bills fund large swaths of the government, meaning funding for roughly 78 per cent of federal operations is set to lapse.

Speaker Mike Johnson has said the House intends to act quickly when it returns on Feb 2, although divisions among Republicans could complicate the process.

If enacted, lawmakers would then have just two weeks to negotiate a full-year DHS funding bill – talks that both parties acknowledge will be politically fraught, with Democrats demanding new guardrails on immigration enforcement and conservatives pushing their own policy priorities. AFP