ICE Shooting Triggers Budget Clash as Shutdown Nears (Full Transcript)
[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Another crisis in Washington now seems inevitable. The second government shutdown of President Trump's second term in office seems almost certain to happen. All as a result of what happened on Saturday. The deadly shooting involving 37-year-old Alex Prenti in Minneapolis being shot and killed by ICE agents after their encounter. Now Senate Democrats are saying that they absolutely will not provide any money to ICE unless there are some serious changes. And here's the problem. That money for ICE is rolled into a larger funding package that must pass Congress by the end of the day on Friday. It was already passed the House. The House is on recess. And now Democrats say they have the votes to block that bill. Because in the 53-47 Senate, you need 60 votes to advance any legislation. And Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, says Republicans do not have the votes unless those changes are made. Now the question is going to be, how long will Democrats dig in? Will the White House concede in any way? Because other agencies would be impacted by this crisis. The Defense Department. Health and Human Services. The Labor Department. Housing and Urban Development. Homeland Security Department. And others. So that means so many people will be impacted. Thousands of employees furloughed. People will lose paychecks. Where will this end up? I caught up with one Democrat who's running for Senate in Minnesota, who's a congresswoman, Angie Craig. She told me that Senate Democrats should hold the line.
[00:01:30] Speaker 2: That's the lever we have at this moment in time. I mean, are we OK that an authoritarian administration is taking over American cities? Are we OK that our First Amendment, our Second Amendment, and our Fourth Amendment rights under the Constitution are being violated? Hell no, we're not OK. But if we don't take a stand now, at this moment in time, America, look at what is happening in Minnesota. This is coming to a city near you.
- A fatal encounter between ICE agents and Alex Prenti is driving demands for changes to ICE funding.
- Senate Democrats claim they have enough votes to block the funding bill absent ICE-related concessions.
- Because of the 60-vote threshold, Republicans likely need Democratic support to advance the package.
- A shutdown would affect multiple agencies and lead to furloughs and missed paychecks.
- Democrats like Angie Craig argue this is a key moment to use legislative leverage to oppose perceived constitutional violations.