A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Today is day four of the partial government shutdown. Now, if all goes according to plan in the House, today could also be the last day.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Senate already approved legislation to fund most of the government last week after President Trump struck a deal with Democrats to avoid a prolonged shutdown. The deal would fund the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks while Congress negotiates changes to federal immigration enforcement procedures after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota. But the plan to end the shutdown all depends on whether the House agrees to send that bill to President Trump. In a few minutes, we'll speak with Democratic Representative Jim McGovern about his reservations. But first, let's get the background.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales has been following all this. All right, Claudia. So they're on the brink, right? It should happen today if all things go according to plan. What can you tell us about the plan that might end this partial shutdown?
CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: Right. Good morning, A. This is a six-bill package that funds a large portion of the government. Five of those bills are full-year appropriations - so this is through September - for agencies such as the departments of Defense, Transportation and Health and Human Services. One of those funds the Department of Homeland Security, but for just two weeks. This would give lawmakers time to negotiate changes to how federal agents do their jobs. And this comes after both sides have seen an outpouring of anger following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last month.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, so this was a deal that the Senate negotiated. Does it have enough to pass the House?
GRISALES: Well, it could. This plan has faced both bipartisan support and bipartisan opposition in the House. And as you point out, the House didn't negotiate the deal. The Senate did. And now the House is having to swallow changes to a bipartisan funding plan that they spent months crafting and ultimately passed. Now, some Republicans have argued the DHS bill already has reforms negotiated with Democrats. But those reforms were all negotiated before the killings at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis, so a lot of House Democrats say this bill does not go far enough.
MARTÍNEZ: So is Speaker Mike Johnson sweating all this?
GRISALES: A little bit.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
GRISALES: He has a razor-thin margin to work with. It's actually a one-vote margin at this stage, and so it will be difficult, but he has a powerful ally in President Trump. Trump weighed in yesterday, telling House Republicans they need to get in line and support the plan. After all, it was negotiated between the White House and Senate Democrats. And as we saw in a House rules committee hearing last night, Republicans all lined up to advance this plan to the floor today. We also saw a preview to how Democrats may vote, as all the panel's Democrats voted no while their top appropriations Democrat, Rosa DeLauro, who appeared before the committee, said she's a yes because there's too much at stake. So we're expecting a similar divide for their party on the floor today.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So that - and that's step one in this process. How difficult do you expect these talks about reforms at DHS to get?
GRISALES: Pretty difficult. We've already heard a lot of skepticism on both sides that even two weeks of talks are not enough. They're going to need a lot more time. Senate Democrats are demanding immigration agents stop wearing masks. They also want new rules on the use of warrants. They want immigration agents to wear body cameras. That's something DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said yesterday she would agree to, but Democrats don't trust that, and they want it put in law. Still, there's a political calculation here for both sides. It's an election year, and there's a lot of motivation for both parties to own this issue at this moment and take that to voters on the campaign trail.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Claudia Grisales. Thanks a lot.
GRISALES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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