A second high-profile killing by a federal agent in Minneapolis has jeopardized the chances of Congress averting a partial government shutdown as Democrats come out en masse against the funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Lawmakers had been on the verge of completing their funding work for fiscal year 2026 this week after the House last week passed its final four bills. However, the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, a nurse at the city's Veterans Affairs hospital, by a Border Patrol agent has seemingly torpedoed the chances of those bills passing the Senate, with one key Democrat after another saying they will not vote to fund DHS.

The DHS bill is tied in with five others that fund the Pentagon, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education -- all of which have broad support.

Democrats are now saying that they will not support the so-called minibus as long as the DHS portion is included. Senate Democrats are expected to have an all-members call on Sunday evening to figure out the plan forward, one aide told The Hill.

"I hate shutdowns. ... But I can't vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under these circumstances," Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) told "Face The Nation" on Sunday. "Take up DHS by itself. Let's have an honest negotiation. Put some guardrails on what's going on, some accountability, and that would solve this problem. We don't have to have a shutdown."

The Maine independent's comments came a day after multiple other key Democrats indicated they will vote against any funding package that includes the DHS segment.

Among them were Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who said that he was against it on Friday morning before the latest shooting. All four were among the eight Democrats who voted to end the 43-day government shutdown in November. King was also part of that group.

"The Trump Administration and Kristi Noem are putting undertrained, combative federal agents on the streets with no accountability. They are oppressing Americans and are at odds with local law enforcement," Cortez Masto said in a statement, after previously pitching her colleagues on a fix that did not require a shutdown. "This is clearly not about keeping Americans safe, it's brutalizing U.S. citizens and law-abiding immigrants."

"I will not support the current Homeland Security funding bill," she said. "We have bipartisan agreement on 96% of the budget. We've already passed six funding bills. Let's pass the remaining five bipartisan bills and fund essential agencies while we continue to fight for a Department of Homeland Security that respects Americans' constitutional rights and preserves federal law enforcement's essential role to keep us safe."

Adding to the chorus was Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who announced on Saturday that Democrats "will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill" with the DHS bill included.

The latest calls from the minority party mark a moment of whiplash.

Democrats were furious in recent weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed Renee Good, 37, amid the protests in the Twin Cities. Almost all House Democrats voted against a standalone DHS bill last week, but lawmakers and Capitol Hill sources were still hopeful as recently as Friday that the "minibus" would stay on track.

One former senior Senate Democratic aide had told The Hill on Friday that the chances of a shutdown were roughly 25 percent as Democrats had been hearing from constituents ICE actions in their home states and were under pressure to act.

Now, it's tough to see how the measure moves on.

"90 percent [chance of] shutdown," the former aide said on Sunday morning. "There is no way Senate Democrats can approve funding for an agency that is killing innocent Americans in the streets. It's the only lever of power they have left to show the American people they are standing up to Trump and ICE."

The killing of Pretti has also spawned another clash between federal and state agencies. Gregory Bovino, the official in charge of President Trump's Border Patrol operations, blamed Pretti for the incident -- an account that has come under major skepticism from statewide officials.

Up until recently, Democrats had also been skittish about careening into another shutdown, having felt the aftershocks from the longest shutdown in history last fall, which came over their insistence for an extension of the enhanced ObamaCare subsidies.

Both sides had hailed the bipartisan work to clear the funding decks for 2026. Schumer earlier in the month had insisted that lawmakers were not heading towards a shutdown during a Sunday show appearance, with appropriators being pleased at the progress.

However, they all acknowledged that the DHS measure was a particularly difficult one for them to get their arms around from the get-go.

The Senate is set to reconvene on Tuesday evening, having postponed its session on Monday due to the snow and ice storm that is slamming much of the Northeast, South and Midwest. The federal government is already closed for Monday.

Second fatal Minneapolis shooting puts Congress on verge of shutdown