Sen. Angus King says he will not vote for bundle with ICE funding, however “we do not have to have a shutdown”

Washington — Unbiased Sen. Angus King of Maine stated Sunday that he will not vote for a bundle to fund the federal government if it consists of funding for ICE, as lawmakers scramble to cross a slate of funding payments to stave off a partial authorities shutdown by Friday — however he argued that “we do not have to have a shutdown.”

“I hate shutdowns,” King stated on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” 

“However I can not vote for a invoice that features ICE funding below these circumstances — what they’re doing in my state, what we noticed yesterday in Minneapolis,” the senator continued, referring to an immigration enforcement operation launched in Maine final week.

Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer introduced Saturday, after the deadly taking pictures of a 37-year-old Minneapolis man by federal brokers, that Democrats won’t put up the mandatory votes to advance a funding bundle to stop a partial authorities shutdown if it consists of funds for the Division of Homeland Safety, which oversees ICE.

To this point, six of the 12 appropriations payments have been handed by Congress and signed into regulation. The Senate has till Friday, Jan. 30 to approve the ultimate six payments, which have been packaged collectively, after they handed the Home in current weeks. That bundle features a invoice that may fund DHS till the tip of the fiscal yr. If these remaining six payments aren’t handed by the Senate and signed by President Trump by Friday, the businesses that they cowl will start to close down.

King, who caucuses with Democrats, was amongst a trio of senators who negotiated a take care of Republicans to reopen the federal government in the course of the longest shutdown in historical past final yr. He argued that “there’s a straightforward approach out” of the funding struggle, saying Senate Majority Chief John Thune ought to separate the DHS invoice from the opposite 5 funding measures. 

“If these payments cross, 96% of the federal authorities is funded,” King stated. “Take up DHS by itself, let’s have an sincere negotiation, put some guardrails on what is going on on, some accountability, and that may clear up this downside.”