U.S. Senator Steve Daines appeared on Fox Business to discuss concerns over a potential government shutdown, the funding of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and strategic interests related to the Chagos Islands.
Addressing the possibility of a government shutdown, Daines said, “Let me be clear that White House and Senate Republicans do not want to see any government shutdown. We saw the nonsense that happened last time last fall, 43 days of a shutdown. What’s going to happen is there’s going to be a vote today in the next hour that probably gets defeated, this appropriation bill that came to us from the House. We have to approve the same bill would go to the president’s desk if we change it in any way the House has to approve it once again that results in some kind of a short-term shutdown. The other irony behind all this, and it shows the problem that Democrats have. They painted themselves in a political corner. The reality is, we funded the Department of Homeland Security. We funded ICE through the Working Families Tax Cut Bill that we passed back in July. We put more money in there for protecting this country and making sure we went after criminal illegal aliens and get them off the street.”
Daines outlined what he expects will happen with congressional negotiations: “Here’s what I think is going to happen. There’ll be a vote today in the next hour that will probably fail and then a deal cut that will pass all of the appropriations except the one chunk of Homeland Security. We will set that aside and pass a temporary bridge, a CR, for a few weeks to negotiate parameters as it relates to DHS. We will see a partial may be a day or two shutdown over the weekend that will have minimal harm. We do not want to see any disruption because the crazy part about this is ICE would not be disrupted, what would be disrupted is FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard, Secret Service. That’s what will get disrupted if Democrats have their way.”
On DHS funding and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Daines emphasized ongoing support: “The reality is we have funded DHS, at this point that may sound political from a policy viewpoint it’s not really that much. But let’s remember something we hired thousands of new ICE agents thanks to President Trump’s leadership. There’s 22,000 ICE agents who go to work every day doing their job to take criminal illegal aliens off the street-150,000 of them have been rounded up. Remember this is a result of Joe Biden’s out-of-control open border policies that have made our communities unsafe. The death threats to ICE agents are up 8,000 percent from where they were last year back in 2024. They have a very tough job.”
He also commented on recent events involving law enforcement: “We all agree what happened in Minneapolis needs an investigation. If there’s a shooting with law enforcement involved, typically you suspend whoever was involved for a period of time and do a complete investigation with an independent group. We all agree that needs to happen in Minneapolis but to completely hold off DHS funding frankly is a political stunt more so than a policy outcome.”
Regarding U.S military strategy concerning overseas bases such as those on Chagos Islands, Daines said: “Remember that is a place we can forward posture B-2’s. It is very important part of deterrents in Middle East and across Asia… There is 99-year commitment… President Trump is right raise concerns about long-term outcome… he wants make sure America protected not only today but also… our kids grandkids.”
The senator’s remarks come amid ongoing debates over federal appropriations bills which determine agency operations during fiscal uncertainty.
