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\n The dome of the U.S. Capitol is framed through a tree on Jan. 25.<\/p>\n
Al Drago\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
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Al Drago\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
A bipartisan effort in Congress to control immigration enforcement tactics after officers killed two people in Minneapolis is faltering ahead of a Friday deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n
It would not be the first time recently that lawmakers pledged to find consensus only for negotiations to fall apart.<\/p>\n
A month ago, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, was projecting confidence that a bipartisan group of lawmakers was nearing a deal to restore lapsed health insurance subsidies<\/a>.<\/p>\n The enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies expired at the end of last year, despite a majority of Americans in favor of Congress renewing them, according to polling from the nonprofit KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n “We’re in the red zone,” Moreno told reporters. “But that does not mean a touchdown. It could mean a 95-yard fumble.”<\/p>\n In the end, there was no touchdown. Moreno told NPR last week that the talks fizzled. He blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for shutting them down in order to keep pummeling Republicans over premium costs.<\/p>\n “Shouldn’t we be here trying to figure out how to solve problems rather than trying to score political points for the purposes of the next election?” Moreno asked.<\/p>\n \n Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, speaks to members of the media at the U.S. Capitol on January 13, 2026. Until recently, Moreno was projecting confidence that a deal to restore lapsed health insurance subsidies was in reach.<\/p>\n Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/p>\n hide caption\n <\/p>\n toggle caption<\/p>\n Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Democrats dispute that characterization, saying Republicans blew up the effort by inserting anti-abortion language in a provision on health savings accounts.<\/p>\n Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., says the effort was doomed to fail \u2014 not because of a lack of compromise but because Democrats lost leverage when a few voted to end the shutdown last fall.<\/p>\n “I was pretty confident the minute we gave up that we weren’t going to get it,” Murphy said.<\/p>\n A bipartisan agreement to address ICE tactics has yet to materialize\u00a0 <\/p>\n Congress’ ability to act is again being tested, this time by the aggressive actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents in Minnesota and elsewhere.<\/p>\n As with the subsidies, public outcry pushed a number of Republicans and Democrats to pledge to do something<\/a> \u2014 in this case, reining in enforcement tactics. Top lawmakers initially signaled optimism<\/a> that they could find common ground on topics such as requiring that officers wear body cameras.<\/p>\n But within days, that rosiness dissipated. Now Democrats are again threatening to withhold their votes for the measure, risking a shutdown of the department after Friday, unless Republican lawmakers and the White House agree to the reforms they want.<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has repeatedly blamed Democrats, saying they imposed an unrealistic timeline and then dawdled before producing a laundry list of nonstarters, like banning agents from wearing masks or requiring judicial warrants for enforcement operations in homes.<\/p>\n Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the White House’s initial response to their demands insufficient and continue to insist that their proposals are reasonable and targeted.<\/p>\n \n Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, enters the U.S. Capitol on January 27, 2026. Collins has been a key negotiator in government funding talks, and says the passage of appropriations bills is evidence that Congress can still do hard things.<\/p>\n Heather Diehl\/Getty Images<\/p>\n hide caption\n <\/p>\n toggle caption<\/p>\n Heather Diehl\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Asked why bipartisan negotiations keep crumbling, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., who has participated in negotiations on the subsidies and immigration, said Congress does successfully collaborate, like negotiating and passing bipartisan government funding bills worth more than $1 trillion.<\/p>\n “I don’t know how you could possibly describe that as crumbling,” Collins told NPR. “That’s Congress reasserting its power of the purse.”<\/p>\n Little incentive to compromise <\/p>\n Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat who represented North Dakota in the Senate from 2013 through 2018, spent hours in rooms with centrist senators like Collins trying to resolve a standoff over the debt ceiling.<\/p>\n She says bipartisan negotiations have always been a high-wire act, particularly amid a national crisis.<\/p>\n “When the shock wears off, then all of a sudden everyone goes back to their corners,” Heitkamp said.<\/p>\n A gang of eight lawmakers tried, but failed, to pass comprehensive immigration reform<\/a> in 2013. Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., made progress on policing reform after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, but came up empty-handed<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n A gang of eight lawmakers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tried but failed, to pass comprehensive immigration reform in 2013. Above, from left in the gang of eight were, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Graham, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.<\/p>\n J. Scott Applewhite\/AP<\/p>\n hide caption\n <\/p>\n toggle caption<\/p>\n J. Scott Applewhite\/AP<\/p>\n Heitkamp, who until recently directed the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, says many lawmakers today see even less incentive to compromise as politics becomes more tribal.<\/p>\n “The base on both sides, their willingness to reward compromise is greatly diminished,” she said. “If you look at the Senate of old, there were a lot of egos in that room and a lot of people who made up their own minds, and now what you have is people who are willing to be cogs in the wheel.”<\/p>\n How inaction diminishes public trust <\/p>\n When Congress promises to act and does not, Heitkamp says, that erodes public trust in the institution’s ability to respond to problems.<\/p>\n![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771002129_912_.jpeg\")
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