Jeffries Rules Out Another Homeland Security Stopgap Bill (1)

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said his party would not support another continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security, calling the option “off the table” shortly after the House passed a short-term funding patch through Feb. 13.

Jeffries (D-N.Y) is meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) Tuesday afternoon to discuss “negotiating teams” and immigration funding priorities, Jeffries said. His opposition to a second short-term continuing resolution ratchets up the odds of another partial shutdown at the end of next week, when Homeland Security funding runs out.

“There’s no daylight between us,” Jeffries said of his and Schumer’s positions. But his comments came just after he and other members of House Democratic leadership voted against the short-term DHS stopgap, which Schumer negotiated with the White House.

Twenty-one House Democrats crossed the aisle to help pass the stopgap, along with other full-year funding bills to end a partial government shutdown that began over the weekend. Jeffries downplayed disagreements in the party ahead of next week’s funding deadline.

“We need dramatic reform of the Department of Homeland Security before the funding legislation for the whole year can move forward or will move forward,” Jeffries said.

Jeffries called a White House meeting “a possibility,” but said he hasn’t spoken with President Donald Trump since the 43-day shutdown late last year.