Rep. Ro Khanna says he's a 'firm no' on reopening the federal government amid ICE funding dispute

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

Feb. 1, 2026, 8:56 AM EST


Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on Sunday called on House Democrats to vote against a measure that would reopen parts of the federal government Monday, saying a vote in favor would support the tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “I’m a firm no, and I’m going to advocate with colleagues that they vote no,” Khanna told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” adding, “I just don’t see how, in good conscience, Democrats can vote for continuing ICE funding when they’re killing American citizens.”

The government shutdown wasn’t immediately halted because House lawmakers were out of town. But the House is expected to vote to reopen the government on Monday, barring any unexpected delays that could extend the shutdown, which currently affects the departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, Treasury, Transportation, Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development.

The deal between Trump and Senate Democrats funds all the affected agencies through September except the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement agencies including ICE and Customs and Border Protection. The bill passed by the Senate temporarily funds DHS for two weeks, giving both parties time to address Democratic concerns about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, which reached a fever pitch in recent weeks after federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, on the streets of Minneapolis.

Khanna on Sunday called for lawmakers to separate ICE funding from other federal government spending, telling “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, “We can bracket the ICE funding. We can open the remaining parts of government. There are a lot of other parts of government that we can fund. The ICE issue should be separated.” “And certainly I don’t think we can be giving a an additional dollar to an agency that is patrolling the streets of not just immigrants, [but] American citizens,” he added.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/ro-khanna-firm-no-reopening-federal-government-ice-funding-dhs-rcna256858

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The government shutdown wasn’t immediately halted because House lawmakers were out of town.

Of course it wasn't but you in the media insisted that the Senate's actions this past Friday, would (unilaterally) "Avert a shutdown" (and THAT was what most of you used for headlines).

[Scrivener7]

1. This confuses me. Is that still in question? Is the separation of DHS funding while funding the other

departments a matter of debate for the House vote? Is a shutdown still a possibility?

[eggplant]

3. The House passed all of the spending bills and then went on holiday.

The Senate agreed to pass all but DHS and a continuing resolution to fund DHS for two more weeks. The House needs to vote on what the Senate passed for any of it to take effect. None of the spending can occur until then. Thus, we are shut down until then.

And if there are amendments tacked on, they have to reconcile with the Senate and go around one more time. So Johnson gets to own this until it is over.

[Scrivener7]

4. Yes, but the threat of a Democratic led shutdown is no longer a thing.

[eggplant]

5. But we are shut down at the moment.

Everything (except the things that never shut down because they are important) is shut down. And it will stay that way until Congress can agree on the funding bills (aaand Trump signs it, so there's that). Trump agreed to the two-week continuing resolution, but he can always change his mind. The problem (I believe) is that the House bundled all of the funding bills into a package, so now they have to rewrite it to match what the Senate passed. Then Trump signs it, and it will be the two-week continuing resolution for DHS.

After that, DHS will shut down, unless there is another CR or everyone agrees on a budget for them. And there is enough outrage (hopefully -- us Americans have really short memories) for there to be a radical change to DHS. Bernie Sanders wants to claw back most of the $85B dollars DHS got last year. Other people want DHS to simply cease to exist. The country got along just fine before then. It only came into existence after 9/11, and it really isn't needed for anything.

Whatever the House comes up with, it will have to pass in the House and then pass in the Senate. Passing anything in the House is (mostly) easy because they only need a majority, but the repubs in the Senate don't have the 60 votes to get it through cloture, so it needs to be something that the Senate dems are willing to go along with.

If this wasn't the case, the repubs in the Senate would ram through the DHS budget that the House already passed. Thus, the "Democratic led shutdown" of DHS. Assuming Johnson can get the House to pass the Senate's version quickly.

[Scrivener7]

6. It seems pretty clear the vote will go through to

fund everything but DHS. Hopefully we'll dig our heels in on making changes to the DHS though.

[kacekwl]

2. This is no time for capitulation or

negotiations. It's time for demands and anger.

[AverageOldGuy]

7. SHUT IT DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

8. It IS shutdown

It shut down Friday at midnight contrary to the media hype about the Senate being some final step to "avert".

Those Departments/agencies that were still covered on the C.R. have no funding, but SOME other Departments/agencies did get "full funding" in earlier appropriations that were approved by both chambers, and signed into law.

So about 1/2 are shut down including DHS.