The House on Thursday passed the final batch of federal spending bills for the current fiscal year, sending the package to the Senate as lawmakers work to prevent another funding lapse. The four bills total about $1.2 trillion and need final passage next week before a Jan. 30 deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Three of the bills drew broad, bipartisan support and funded Defense along with other departments including Education, Transportation and Health and Human Services. A fourth bill, which funds the Department of Homeland Security, drew sharp Democratic criticism over whether it would restrain President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
The Homeland Security bill passed 220-207. The broader package—covering the full set of bills—passed 341-88 and includes a 3.8% pay raise for the military. Democrats, before the votes, announced their opposition to the Homeland Security measure as their rank-and-file pressed for a more forceful response to Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Democratic leaders said Trump promised that deportation would focus on violent felons, but that ICE instead targeted American citizens and law-abiding immigrant families. In a joint statement, Democratic leaders including Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said, “Taxpayer dollars are being misused to brutalize U.S. citizens, including the tragic killing of Renee Nicole Good. This extremism must end.”
The statement cited recent events in the Minneapolis area, where more than 2,000 officers are stationed, and where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, described in the report as a mother of three. Democrats argued that the policy direction was misaligned with what Trump had said his deportation priorities would be.
Democrats also said they had limited options to express their opposition to Homeland Security funding. Rep. Rosa DeLauro said a continuing resolution would simply cede more Homeland Security spending decisions to Trump, and that failing to fund Homeland Security would hurt disaster assistance programs and agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration. She and other Democrats said ICE and Customs and Border Protection would carry on and use other funds available under Trump’s tax cut and immigration legislation.
Republicans countered that the Homeland Security bill helps lawmakers carry out their most important duty of keeping the public safe. Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said, “This legislation delivers just that and upholds the America first agenda.”
On the House floor, Democratic lawmakers lined up to oppose the Homeland Security bill, with criticism focused on ICE. Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota said residents in her state were being “Masked federal agents are seizing parents, yes, in front of terrified children,” and added that “many of these people we’re finding had no record and were here legally.” Rep. Jerrold Nadler said, “I will not fund an agency that acts like an American gestapo.”
Rep. Katherine Clark said the bill reflected what she characterized as “political retribution of a vengeful president,” and added, “I will not rubberstamp the federal government’s use of political violence against its own people and I ask every member to join me in voting no.” Cole, however, criticized some of the remarks Democrats made about ICE on the floor, saying, “It’s reckless, encouraging people to believe that we have masses of bad actors in a particular agency,”.
The Homeland Security bill, the report said, holds the annual spending Congress provides ICE roughly flat compared with the prior year, while restricting the ability of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to shift funding unilaterally. It also allocates $20 million for body cameras for ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers who interact with the public during immigration enforcement operations, and requires Homeland Security to provide monthly updates on how it plans to spend money from Trump’s bill.
Rep. Henry Cuellar said Democrats were not getting everything they wanted, but were able to add oversight. He said, “It’s not everything we wanted. We wanted more oversight. But look, Democrats don’t control the House. We don’t control the Senate or the White House. But we were able to add some oversight over Homeland.”
Republicans also celebrated what they described as avoiding a larger omnibus “catchall” funding bill and said the approach kept non-defense spending just below current levels. Rep. Mark Alford said, “It sends a clear, powerful message back home — the House is back at work. We are back to governing,” as the House completed its work on the package.
In a last-minute add to the package, the House tacked on a provision that would repeal the ability of senators to sue the government over the collection of their cellphone data as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The report said senators previously allowed suits seeking up to $500,000 in damages in an earlier funding bill, but the House unanimously agreed to block the provision.