The White House rejected a demand by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to remove DHS funding from a key spending bill this week. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
"At this point, the White House supports the bipartisan work that was done to advance the bipartisan appropriations package, and we want to see that passed," President Donald Trump's spokeswoman said.
"Policy discussions on immigration in Minnesota are happening. Look, the president is leading those discussions, as evidenced by his correspondence with Governor Walz this morning. But that should not be at the expense of government funding for the American people."
Democrats are coming out against the DHS funding bill en masse in the wake of another deadly federal law enforcement-involved shooting in Minneapolis. A Border Patrol agent shot Alex Pretti, a nurse who worked with veterans at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, during a wider protest against Trump's immigration crackdown in the city.
Both Republicans and Democrats have called for investigations into the fatal encounter, but only Democrats are threatening to put federal funding at risk.
7 HOUSE DEMOCRATS BREAK WITH JEFFRIES TO PASS DHS FUNDING DESPITE ICE BACKLASH
Leavitt pointed out that the DHS funding portion would also allocate dollars to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), not just the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spending that Democrats object to.
"We are in the midst of the storm that took place over the weekend, and many Americans are still being impacted by that. So we absolutely do not want to see that funding lapse," she said. "We want the Senate to move forward with passing the bipartisan appropriations package that was negotiated on a bipartisan basis."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks at a press conference with other members of Senate Republican leadership following a policy luncheon in Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Even if Senate Democrats did prevail, it's virtually guaranteed that Congress would miss the Friday shutdown deadline at this point.
Any changes to the spending package would require it to return to the House to be considered again, despite it passing the lower chamber last week.
But a House GOP leadership source told Fox News Digital of that prospect on Saturday, "We passed all 12 bills over to the Senate, and they still have six in their possession that they need to pass to the president. We have no plan to come back next week."
Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer's office for a response.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-not-budging-democrats-demands-dhs-funding-mutiny-threatens-government-shutdown