White House seeks to circumvent Schumer on potential DHS funding deal

White House border czar Tom Homan met with a group of centrist Democrats at the Capitol on Thursday, circumventing Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), who didn’t attend the meeting, in hopes of reaching a deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Homan met for more than an hour with centrist Democrats who broke with Schumer in November to reopen the federal government after a 43-day shutdown and pledged to “keep talking” as he emerged from a suite of offices just off the Capitol Rotunda.

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Angus King (Maine), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, attended the meeting, as did Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who did not support last year’s deal to reopen the government.

Hassan and King declined to comment as they left the meeting.

Homan indicated to reporters after the meeting that he would continue to negotiate with the Democratic centrists.

“We’re going to keep talking,” he said. “We need to get the government open and we’re going to keep having discussions.”

Murray told reporters that the two sides are still “a long ways apart.”

Schumer, who has spearheaded the talks with the White House to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), was notably absent from the meeting.

Up until now, Schumer has been a core piece of the Democratic negotiating team, along with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Murray and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Schumer and other Democratic leaders submitted their latest offer to the White House on Monday night.

A Senate Republican source told The Hill that White House negotiators and GOP senators don’t think it’s possible to reach a deal with Schumer to reopen DHS, which saw its funding lapse on Feb. 14.

Republicans feel they have a better chance of cutting a deal with seven or eight Democratic centrists to reopen DHS by agreeing to stronger rules to require federal immigration officers to wear body cameras and other reforms. The reforms offered so far, however, have fallen short of Democrats’ demands.

Eight Democratic caucus members, including King, broke ranks with their leadership before Thanksgiving to vote for a government funding bill, ending a shutdown that had dragged on for six weeks.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Tuesday told reporters that Democratic leaders weren’t making any real effort to negotiate a deal.

“The Democrats seem intent on dragging out this political issue,” he said, pointing out that it took 18 days for Democrats to respond to one White House offer.

“We got to have a meaningful conversation where we sit down at the table and actually work these issues out,” he added. “You can’t get there if you’re not sitting down at the table.”

Schumer is under intense pressure from the Democratic Party’s left flank to not cut a deal with President Trump that falls short of the Democrats’ 10-point list of demands, including requirements that federal immigration officers obtain judicial warrants before entering a residence to make an apprehension and a ban on officers wearing masks during law enforcement operations.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is the favorite to win the Illinois Senate race, says she won’t vote for Schumer to serve another term as Democratic leader because voters want “fighters” in Washington.

“I’ve made it clear that I would not support Chuck Schumer as leader of the Democratic caucus because I think right now what I’m hearing from voters all across the state of Illinois is that they are fed up. They’re fed up with what’s happening in Washington,” Stratton told progressive YouTube commentator Jack Cocchiarella in an interview.

“I can say that they are telling me very clearly that they’re looking for fighters and not folders. They want people who are going to stand up, fight for what’s important,” she said.

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