US Senate fails to advance act on funding Homeland Security Department amid ongoing partial shutdown

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US Senate failed to advance legislation Tuesday to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a partial government shutdown stretched into its 11th day.

Lawmakers took a procedural vote aimed at moving the H.R.7147 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act forward, but the effort stalled amid continued partisan divisions over immigration enforcement and agency oversight.

The upper chamber voted 50-45.

The US federal government entered a limited shutdown at 12.01 a.m. on Feb. 14 after Congress failed to pass a funding bill before a midnight Friday deadline, with Democrats blocking the measure, demanding reforms to the DHS, especially US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Following the killing of two Americans by ICE agents in the state of Minnesota in January, Democrats have insisted on stronger oversight and tighter limits on immigration enforcement -- including banning the use of masks by ICE officers, requiring body cameras to remain on, and mandating visible identification -- as a condition for supporting the funding bill.