Barbara Sprunt

Senate Republicans sent Democrats another potential deal yesterday.

But top Democrats said it didn't have the significant reforms that they want to see.

What's new is the potential to fund DHS minus ICE's detention and deportation operations.

And this would allow the rest of the department to get funded, including those TSA officers currently working without pay.

Not right now.

They're concerned that there won't be major changes to ICE enforcement tactics.

One example that they've been pushing for is a ban on face coverings for agents and changes to warrant procedures.

Now, as a reminder, ICE still has money despite the current shutdown.

And that's because of an injection of tens of billions of dollars that they got last year.

But as this deal emerges, it's not just Democrats who are hesitant.

Some Republicans are too.

Republicans?

Why?

Well, they're worried about the process.

The White House is still going to want to fund ICE enforcement.

That's not going away.

The suggestion is to fund the rest of DHS now and deal with ICE later with a budget tool that would let Republicans pass it without Democrat support.

That's called reconciliation.

And if they're going down that road, some Republicans want to include another big legislative priority for President Trump in that same process, passing an elections overhaul package.

But to use reconciliation, the legislation has to comply with a very specific set of budget rules.