House approves final spending bills as Democrats denounce ICE funding
[January 23, 2026]
By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed this year's final batch of spending
bills on Thursday as lawmakers, still smarting from last fall's record
43-day shutdown, worked to avoid another funding lapse for a broad swath
of the federal government.
The four bills total about $1.2 trillion in spending and now move to the
Senate, with final passage needed next week before a Jan. 30 deadline to
avoid a partial government shutdown.
Three of the bills had broad, bipartisan support. They funded Defense
and various other departments, including Education, Transportation and
Health and Human Services. A fourth bill funding the Department of
Homeland Security was hotly disputed as Democrats voiced concerns that
it failed to restrain President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts.
Republicans were able to overcome the Democratic objections and muscle
the Homeland Security bill to passage in a 220-207 vote. The broader
package, which funds a 3.8% pay raise for the military, passed in a
341-88 vote.
Before the votes, House Democratic leaders announced their opposition to
the Homeland Security bill as the party's rank-and-file demanded a more
forceful stand in response to the Republican president's immigration
crackdown. Trump's efforts have recently centered 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 Good, a
mother of three.
In a joint statement, the Democratic leaders said Trump promised the
American people that his deportation policy would focus on violent
felons in the country illegally, but instead, ICE has targeted American
citizens and law-abiding immigrant families.
“Taxpayer dollars are being misused to brutalize U.S. citizens,
including the tragic killing of Renee Nicole Good. This extremism must
end,” said the statement from Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries,
Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete
Aguilar.
Democrats had limited options
Democrats had few good options to express their opposition to Homeland
Security funding.
Lawmakers, when confronting a funding impasse, generally turn to
continuing resolutions to temporarily fund agencies at their current
levels. But doing so in this case would simply cede more Homeland
Security spending decisions to Trump, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, top
Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
Also, there was concern that a failure to fund Homeland Security would
hurt disaster assistance programs and agencies such as the
Transportation Security Administration, while ICE and Customs and Border
Protection would simply carry on. They could use funding from Trump's
big tax cut and immigration bill to continue their operations. ICE,
which typically receives about $10 billion a year, was provided $30
billion for operations and $45 billion for detention facilities through
Republicans' “one big beautiful bill.”
This year's Homeland Security bill holds the annual spending that
Congress provides ICE roughly flat from the prior year. It also
restricts the ability of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to
unilaterally shift funding and allocate federal dollars as she sees fit.
The bill also allocates $20 million for the purchase and operations of
body cameras for ICE and CBP officers interacting with the public during
immigration enforcement operations. And it will require Homeland
Security to provide monthly updates on how it plans to spend money from
Trump's bill.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news
conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
“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,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, a member of the
Appropriations panel.
Republicans countered that the Homeland Security bill helps
lawmakers accomplish their most important duty — keeping the
American people safe.
“This legislation delivers just that and upholds the America first
agenda,” said Rep. Tom Cole, the Republican chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee.
Republicans also celebrated the avoidance of a massive, catchall
funding bill known as an omnibus as part of this year's
appropriations process. Such bills, often taken up before the
holiday season with lawmakers anxious to return home, have
contributed to greater federal spending, they say. This year's
effort, while a few months behind schedule, manages to keep
non-defense spending just below current levels, they emphasized.
“It sends a clear, powerful message back home — the House is back at
work. We are back to governing,” said Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo.
Anger on the House floor
One by one, Democratic lawmakers lined up to voice their opposition
to the Homeland Security bill with a particular focus on ICE, which
has been rapidly hiring thousands of new deportation officers to
carry out the president’s mass deportation agenda.
Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota said residents of her state were
being racially profiled on a mass scale and kidnapped from their
communities.
“Masked federal agents are seizing parents, yes, in front of
terrified children,” McCollum said. “And many of these people we're
finding had no record and were here legally.”
“I will not fund an agency that acts like an American gestapo,” said
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.
“This is about the political retribution of a vengeful president,”
said Clark of Massachusetts. “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 decried some of the comments about ICE on the House floor.
"It's reckless, encouraging people to believe that we have masses of
bad actors in a particular agency," Cole said.
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.
Senators had previously allowed suits claiming up to $500,000 in
damages in an earlier funding bill, but the provision drew sharp
criticism. The House unanimously agreed to block it.
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