Representative Madeleine Dean of Glenside is petitioning Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick to oppose Department of Homeland Security funding that does not include “critical” immigration reforms.
According to the letter, the DHS Fiscal Year 2026 Appropriations bill is to be considered this week. According to ABC News, Senate Democrats voted unanimously yesterday to block a package of six funding bills that would fund large portions of the government through the end of September, though the bill failed to advance by a vote of 45-55.
A partial government shutdown could still happen in the coming days, according to their coverage.
“Those talks are intensifying in the final hours between the White House and Senate Democrats to reach an agreement over how to advance a package of bills necessary to fund the government — including Democrats’ request to separate the bill that funds DHS,” ABC News wrote. “It is likely that even if a deal is reached, there will still be a short partial shutdown. Any changes to the government funding bill passed in the Senate would have to go back to the House, which is currently in recess until Monday.”
Dean’s letter, which is signed by six other members of Congress, urges Fetterman and McCormick “to oppose any legislation that provides funding to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without first securing meaningful, enforceable reforms to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and related DHS agency activity.”
“We voted against this bill last week and ask that you do the same,” the letter says. “Funding without adequate reform risks endorsing current approaches that undermine public safety and due process, erode American liberties, and weaken public trust.”
“The Trump administration undermines public safety and due process — Americans deserve accountability,” Dean said in a post.
The letter is below:
In other news, Senator Art Haywood of Abington Township posted in regards to the confirmed return of the final hostages from Gaza. According to CNN, all Israeli hostages, living and dead, were back on home soil as of Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a 1967 graduate of Cheltenham High School, said that he would not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip, asserting that Israel would maintain security control “from Jordan to the sea”.
“I am hearing that I will allow the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza. That did not happen, and it will not happen,” Netanyahu said, as reported by The Times of Israel. “I think all of you know that the one who repeatedly stopped the establishment of a Palestinian state is me, together with my colleagues in the governments I have led. Even today and tomorrow, we will not allow this.”
Haywood wrote that he condemns “the war crimes of the Netanyahu government, including the systematic denial of humanitarian aid and the weaponization of starvation against the civilian population of Gaza.” He also describes the “New Gaza colonization plan from the ‘Board of Peace’ and the Trump administration” as “unacceptable.”
According to BBC News, plans for a “New Gaza” were unveiled during a signing ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos for President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace, which is tasked with ending the two-year war between Israel and Hamas and overseeing reconstruction. The plans would see the Palestinian territory “rebuilt from scratch” and outlines “the phased development of new residential, agricultural and industrial areas for the 2.1 million population.”
“These plans threaten to end the hope of Palestinian self-determination and replace it with a permanent state of dependency for real estate investors,” the post says, followed by a “call for an immediate transition toward a sovereign, Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.”
Senator Haywood’s post:
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