The U.S. House passed a set of spending bills Tuesday that will end the partial government shutdown while buying time for bipartisan negotiations over new accountability measures for immigration enforcement.
The measures now go to President Donald Trump to sign into law and reopen the government. The agreement kicks off a 10-day sprint for Republicans and Democrats to agree on policy changes to how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operate during immigration raids.
If they fail to reach a deal in time, the Department of Homeland Security — including the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency — would shut down on Feb. 14. ICE and the agency’s other immigration efforts would continue to operate due to the $170 billion appropriated for Homeland Security under the Republican tax and spending law passed last year.
“ICE and the Department of Homeland Security need to dramatically change,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) told reporters Monday. “And absent that, then a full-year appropriations bill is in deep trouble.”
The vote was 217-214. House Democrats pledged not to help House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) kick off the process of considering the legislation, though 21 voted for the final bill Tuesday afternoon. Twenty-one Republicans, meanwhile, voted no.
A procedural vote to advance the bill package narrowly passed the House 217-215 earlier Tuesday, with all present Democrats voting no and all but one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (Kentucky), voting yes. The vote was nearly derailed by last-minute opposition from a few Republicans, who ultimately acquiesced after more than 30 minutes of arm-twisting by House GOP leaders.
“We’ll handle it. We’re going to pass the rule today; it was never in doubt,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday morning. “The Republican Party is sticking together because the stakes are so high.”
The more than $1.2 trillion package funds the Pentagon, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Education, State and more through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
It also temporarily funds the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13 in the hopes that lawmakers can negotiate new oversight policies for immigration agents — the result of a deal struck between Senate Democrats and the White House after immigration officials shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last month.
The Senate passed that deal on Friday, but portions of the government shut down early Saturday morning because the House was out of town and couldn’t approve it yet.
Some House conservatives initially signaled that they planned to oppose the package, in part because they believe the agreement undermines ICE’s efforts. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) said she would not vote for it unless it included the Save Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
But Luna visited the White House on Monday and said she and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee) would join the rest of the party in advancing the legislation, saying she believes there is a path forward for the voter ID legislation in the Senate. Rep. John Rose (R-Tennessee) initially voted against the rule over the Save Act, arguing the bill “belongs on must-pass legislation” like the funding bill. He later changed his vote.
President Donald Trump posted on social media Monday urging members to support the agreement.
“We need to get the Government open, and I hope all Republicans and Democrats will join me in supporting this Bill, and send it to my desk WITHOUT DELAY. There can be NO CHANGES at this time,” Trump wrote Monday. “We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown that will hurt our Country so badly — One that will not benefit Republicans or Democrats. I hope everyone will vote, YES!”
The whole federal government closed for 43 days last fall, the longest shutdown in U.S. history, as Democrats sought unsuccessfully to extend health care subsidies that expired at the end of the year.
House Democrats are split on the Homeland Security funding bill. Many have privately raised concerns that Senate negotiators won’t be able to achieve meaningful accountability measures, and some have said they would prefer if ICE is not funded this year, noting that the agency received $75 billion from last year’s Republican tax and spending law. (ICE would also be able to continue operating if it isn’t funded, drawing on that money.)
“It does nothing to provide public safety at a time when communities are feeling under assault,” said Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nevada), who plans to vote against the funding package. “It doesn’t have to be this way. This was a choice, because the Republicans gave DHS a $200 billion slush fund with no accountability, no transparency, and instead of working with us to put those public safety guardrails in place, they’ve just chosen to bury their head in the sand.”
Others say keeping the agency funded for a short time is necessary if Democrats hope to achieve their goals of reining in ICE.
“I’ll take those 10 days and see what we can get. And if at the end of those 10 days we can’t decide to go with it, then it’s a no vote and the Department of Homeland Security is shuttered,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Connecticut), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, adding that the other funding bills are “good bills with good things for the people we care about.”
Lawmakers will now turn to negotiating potential accountability measures for immigration officers.
Senate Democrats have demanded that Republicans agree to require that immigration agents wear body cameras and identify themselves; get warrants for arrests; and adhere to a code of conduct similar to state and local law enforcement.
House Democrats unveiled a similar list of demands on Tuesday, adding that immigration officers need clear guidelines for use of force.
“We have some opportunities to make our voices heard in the 10 days,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (California), chair of the House Democratic Caucus. “We have a list that we want done, and we aren’t settling for half measures. And if Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson don’t want to come to the table and negotiate real reform, then they’re going to have to explain to the American public why they’re shutting down agencies.”
But Republicans have already rejected some of Democrats’ core demands. Johnson said Tuesday that the conference won’t agree to require judicial warrants for arrests by immigration officers.
Administrative warrants are “sufficient legal authority to go and apprehend” undocumented immigrants, Johnson said: “If someone is going to be apprehended and they run behind a closed door and lock the door, what is ICE supposed to do at that point? ‘Oh, gee whiz, a locked door?’”
Rep. Lisa C. McClain (Michigan), chair of the Republican conference, told The Washington Post that House Republicans do not intend to bend to Democratic demands that the party considers dangerous for immigration officials, such as requiring immigration agents to show their faces during raids.
“They’re like a spoiled child that’s not getting what they want and throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store,” she said of Democrats. “You don’t reward them with giving them a candy bar.”
Marianna Sotomayor contributed to this report.
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