Senate Republicans immediately rejected a new offer Wednesday from Democrats to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, in a troubling sign for negotiations as lawmakers scramble to reach a deal before a scheduled two-week recess begins Friday.

The stalemate is throwing the upcoming recess into question, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D, repeatedly threatening to keep lawmakers in town until DHS is funded. 

“I think it’s awfully hard not to have the government funded if we’re not here,” he said.

The Democratic offer retains their long-standing push for changes to immigration enforcement policy, including a requirement for agents to remove their masks and obtain judicial warrants to enter private properties, lawmakers said. 

It also includes some changes that the White House “has already agreed to in principle, like officer identification, body-worn cameras, protecting sensitive locations from enforcement standards, and basic training standards,” a Democratic source familiar with the offer said. 

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said Wednesday that Democrats had felt that negotiations with Republicans had been progressing and the most recent GOP offer was a step backward.

“We thought there had been some progress, but then Republicans sent us their offer yesterday and contained none of what had been talked about,” Schumer said. “None of the reforms we had been discussing.” 

But Thune shot down the Democratic counteroffer shortly afterward, accusing Democrats of “asking for things that have already been turned down.”

“Warrants and masks have never been on the table, and they know that,” he said. “This is another example of the Democrats not being serious. I mean, they’re just spinning their wheels.”

Try, try again

In another attempt to pressure Democrats into action, Thune brought a House-passed Homeland Security appropriations bill back up for another procedural vote on Wednesday, with the idea to offer an amendment from Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, once the bill was pending. The amendment would strip out $5.45 billion that would fund the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division. It would also provide back pay for Homeland Security workers who missed pay during the partial shutdown.

But the motion to invoke cloture, limiting debate on proceeding to the bill, fell short for the sixth time. The vote was 54-46, falling six votes shy of the 60 needed.

Schumer said his party’s latest plan includes “the very same asks Democrats have been talking about now for months.” 

“For Republicans to now act as though Democrats have changed our position, as though we’ve moved the goalposts, is poppycock and bad faith,” he said. “And for Republicans to send us a proposal that has no reforms is bad faith as well.”

Thune said Republicans’ offer includes immigration enforcement changes previously included in the original DHS funding bill. But he has also argued that any further policy changes should go hand in hand with the ICE enforcement funding. 

“They’ve been saying for months now, literally, that ICE is the issue when they wanted to make it clear that they wanted reforms,” Thune said earlier on Wednesday. “And so we offered reforms, and they continually walked away from the table on that.”

Democrats have additionally expressed concerns in wake of Republicans’ latest proposal about funding for a unit that investigates human trafficking and smuggling, known as Homeland Security Investigations, which they argue would also still amount to funding “immigration enforcement.”   

The long day of partisan sniping ended with little sign of progress, though lawmakers insisted they were not giving up on reaching a deal.

“Looks like everybody’s gonna stare at each other for a little while,” Thune said as he left the Capitol. “Then we’ll see if we can get something started again.”