President Donald Trump has reportedly rebuffed an attempt by Senate Republican leadership to strike a limited funding deal with Democrats that would reopen parts of the federal government while sidelining a core conservative priority: immigration enforcement.
According to Breitbart, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) floated a plan to the president that would fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without immediate money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the promise that ICE funding could be restored later through the budget reconciliation process. As Punchbowl News noted, Democrats wouldnt get some of their chief demands banning masks for federal agents or requiring judicial warrants if reconciliation were used. Plus, TSA agents would get their paychecks and the security-line madness at airports would end.
Multiple sources told the outlet that President Trump flatly rejected the idea, insisting Republicans remain in Washington and continue pressing Democrats over DHS funding and the SAVE America Act, the GOP-backed voter ID and proof-of-citizenship legislation. He also warned that he would publicly criticize Senate Republicans if they attempted to leave town for the upcoming recess instead of holding the line on border security and election integrity.
In a move that underscored his leverage over the party, President Trump further said he would invite all Republican senators and their families to the White House for Easter dinner, a gesture some lawmakers interpreted less as hospitality and more as pressure to stay in the capital. Some Republicans took that as a threat, not a reward, Punchbowl reported, emphasizing the internal tension within the GOP conference.
President Trump then turned to Truth Social on Sunday night to make his position unmistakably clear, signaling he would not bless any compromise that abandoned core conservative priorities. I dont think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, he wrote.
He urged Republicans to tie DHS funding directly to sweeping election and cultural reforms, rejecting any attempt to disguise cuts to immigration enforcement. It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate, and that includes giving these same terrible people, the Dems (who are to blame for this mess!), a Five Billion Dollar cut in ICE funding, a deal which, even when disguised as something else, is unacceptable to me and the American people UNLESS it includes their approval of Voter I.D., (with picture!), Citizenship to Vote, No Mail-In Voting (with exceptions), All Paper Ballots, No Men In Womens Sports, and No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our precious children, he declared.
President Trump added, Put it all together, and also, let Leader Thune clearly identify those few Republicans that are Voting against AMERICA. They will never be elected again! In other words, lump everything together as one, and VOTE!!! Kill the Filibuster, and stay in D.C. for Easter, if necessary. As TSA wait times spike amid the DHS shutdown, the standoff now pits short-term operational relief against a broader conservative push to secure the border, safeguard elections, and resist progressive social policies in one high-stakes legislative showdown.
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