Thune fumes over Dems demands on DHS bill

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday fumed as Democrats demanded an expanded list of concessions on immigration enforcement to pass a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security.

"It’s totally unrealistic, their demand list went from 3 items to 10 items,” he said, according to Fox News. “It just shows you they’re not serious. There’s a bunch of stuff in there that’s a non-starter, and they know it. Maybe they had to put it in there to satisfy MoveOn or some of their left wing special interest groups.”

Democrats on Wednesday released a 10-point list of demands to pass the DHS funding bill, including a judicial warrant requirement, a ban on agents wearing masks, requiring visible ID, ending racial profiling, blocking agent stops at "protected" areas, and a number of other concessions.

The Senate previously approved a plan to pass five appropriations bills and a stopgap measure for the DHS package that would last until Feb. 13. President Donald Trump signed that measure after the House approved it, though a partial shutdown still looms if the legislature does not approve a DHS budget by the new deadline.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.