This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
A partial government shutdown seems increasingly likely, as Senate Democrats said they will oppose funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless there are significant reforms. The stance comes after the shooting of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
Colorado’s Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper had already expressed opposition to the funding package even before two federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti on Saturday. Renee Good was shot in her vehicle by an ICE agent two weeks earlier.
“This is a moment of reckoning — to rein in President Trump, Secretary (Kristi) Noem, Steven Miller and their Department of Homeland Security, which is operating lawlessly with no accountability,” Bennet said during a Democratic press conference on Tuesday. “And in pursuit of accountability, we must constrain ICE and CBP and DHS.”
The majority of Senate Democrats said they will not advance the spending package if it includes funding for Homeland Security without reforms, such as requiring body cameras, agents not wearing masks to cover their faces, and tightening rules governing use of warrants. .
Bennet said keeping the funding as is, amounts to a “blank check” to DHS. The department would be able to function during a partial shutdown since it received more than $75 billion in funding through Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill (now called the Working Families Tax Cut).
Hickenlooper said the events of the weekend, “I think this is going to be — hopefully — the straw that just breaks the camel's back, and we can get these reforms that we're demanding — that Secretary Noem agrees to leave office, to resign, and to unmask the officers, and keep them away from schools and churches, sensitive locations. Americans, they're demanding more from us, and I think it's time for us to listen, to stand up.”
The U.S. House, which is in recess this week, held a separate vote for Homeland Security funding last Thursday. It passed 220-207. Colorado’s House delegation voted along party lines, with every Republican voting to fund DHS, and every Democrat voting against it.
“We are all shocked by what we’re seeing across the country,” said Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen. “We're seeing families ripped apart, people unlawfully being deported, legal residents being deported without any due process, and people being targeted just for the color of their skin.”
She noted that Donald Trump said on the campaign trail that the administration would focus on targeting “the most dangerous people.” (Trump also called for mass deportation on the campaign trail.)
Democrats are also worried that the type of ICE surge that is happening in Minneapolis could happen in Denver. Rep. Joe Neguse added “the kind of lawlessness that you’re seeing play out in Minneapolis has begun in different parts of Colorado,” noting that federal immigration officials have left ace of spades cards on cars of detained immigrants.
Senate Democrats are pushing to pass the remaining five budget bills and continue negotiations on Homeland Security funding, but it’s not clear whether House Republicans would be on board with that approach. Far-right factions in the Senate and the House have already come out against passing a budget package without DHS funding. So, unless Republicans and the White House can address Democratic concerns, a shutdown appears likely.
Colorado earmarks hang in the balance
It’s not just funding for government agencies at stake, but millions of dollars in earmarks for Colorado projects, from wildfire mitigation to emergency operation centers that could be delayed.
In a break from the past, all Republican members of the Colorado delegation requested earmarks. Previous Republican Representatives and GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert shunned them when Democrats brought them back in 2021, renaming earmarks “community project funding” in the House and “congressionally directed spending” in the Senate.
The six remaining appropriations bills that need to clear Congress contain more than $118 million in funding requested by Colorado lawmakers.
The DHS funding bill has more than $11 million in earmarks through FEMA. GOP Rep. Gabe Evans got almost $8.7 million in an earmark for the Gold Hill Pipeline, while Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen has $1 million for Jefferson County roadway wildfire hazard mitigation included, and GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd has $869,000 for a detention basin project in Mesa County.
Bennet and Hickenlooper have just under a million earmarks for four emergency operation centers across the state as part of the Homeland Security appropriation bill.
The majority of earmarks in this six-bill minibus package come in the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, Health and Human Services bill and Labor bill. (Boebert and Crank voted for an amendment that would strip out all the earmarks in the Labor -HHS bill, which included funding for hospitals across the state. (Boebert voted against the final package, while Crank voted for it.)
All Colorado members of the delegation have earmarks in those bills.
Earmarks for FY2025 were not included in the continuing resolution that has funded the government in March 2025, so this is an opportunity for lawmakers to bring home some bacon before the mid-term elections.
