Sen. Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat, said Monday that the ongoing Department of Homeland Security funding negotiations with the White House and Republicans have been “constructive,” but emphasized that “there’s considerably more work to be done.”
“We’re ready to meet with the White House today to keep talking,” Schumer said after talks occurred all weekend. “In fact, we were going to meet this morning with [Border Czar] Tom Homan, but apparently the White House pulled that meeting because of Donald Trump’s temper tantrum.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to the press after the weekly policy luncheon in Washington, March 16, 2026.
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Schumer said Trump is trying to “sabotage negotiations” as lawmakers work to hammer out a deal to end the DHS partial shutdown, as lines grow at airports across the country and tens of thousands of workers, including Transportation Security Administration officers, go without pay.
Schumer said Trump “is the one standing in the way” of paying TSA workers after he directed Republicans over the weekend to not make a deal with Democrats on DHS funding without also passing his voting and gender-affirming care legislation, the SAVE America Act.
“The SAVE Act does not have the votes to pass this chamber, and Democrats will fight it every step of the way,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday. “The SAVE Act has nothing to do with DHS Homeland Security. It has nothing to do with TSA workers or making sure ICE follows the same rules as every other federal law enforcement agency in the country.”
During a crime-focused roundtable in Memphis on Monday, Trump said he is “suggesting strongly to the Republican Party” to avoid making “any deal on anything.”
President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion on public safety at a Tennessee Air National Guard Base, March 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn.
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“Do not settle with Democrats and let them out of this hole that they buried themselves in. You have to take the votes in the Senate to approve. You need votes to approve,” Trump said, also repeating his calls for the Senate to abolish their 60-vote filibuster to pass the legislation with a simple majority.
Trump encouraged Republicans to stay in town for the upcoming recess to hammer out a deal: “Don’t worry about Easter, going home.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday that the negotiations are a very fluid situation, which will hopefully become more clear in the next two days.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune smiles speaks to reporters following a Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Building on March 17, 2026 in Washington.
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Monday’s developments come after Trump on Sunday rejected a potential off-ramp to the DHS shutdown after conversations between the White House and Senate Republican leaders, according to multiple sources who spoke with ABC News.
Trump on Sunday shot down funding every agency inside the department — except Immigration and Custom Enforcement, according to the sources.
Senate Republicans expressed concern the approach could give Democrats the upper hand in negotiations and have an impact on critical roles that ICE plays in addition to immigration enforcement, like the work done by Homeland Security Investigations.
A source familiar with the conversation told ABC News that White House aides had briefed Trump on the proposed DHS off-ramp before a phone call between Thune and the president on Sunday, hoping that the pitch could break the impasse that has stretched on for 38 days so far.
Senate Democrats — who are blocking DHS funding and demanding ICE reforms — have repeatedly tried and failed to pass legislation to fund agencies inside the department, excluding immigration enforcement.
Democrats’ efforts have been blocked by Republican leadership who have publicly argued everything should be funded at once — despite debating a different plan behind closed doors, according to sources.
But as the chaos unravels at airports across the country — including Trump’s announcement over the weekend that he would send ICE agents to airports starting on Monday to assist TSA officers, some Senate Republicans say they have seen enough.
“The Democrats are amenable to opening up everything in DHS but ICE. I think we should accept that,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy told reporters Sunday afternoon. “The very next day, we should file a budget resolution to reconciliation that funds ICE as we deem appropriate. We don’t need Democratic votes to do that.”
As the partial shutdown drags on, ICE has money to continue its operations, following a $75 billion cash infusion over five years in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that Trump signed into law last summer. And ICE agents continue to be paid, while their other DHS colleagues are not.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and 174 of his rank-and-file Democrats have signed onto a discharge petition that would force Speaker Mike Johnson to consider a bill to fund all of DHS, minus ICE. It requires 218 signatures in total to be considered.
A top congressional aide stressed that Republican leaders are exploring a number of options.
Lawmakers have expressed optimism that “progress” is being made in DHS funding talks, particularly after senators were forced to stay in town this weekend for an unrelated series of votes.
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Isabella Murray and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
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