House Dems Rally Against DHS Funding Bill, But the Senate Is Where the Real Fight Happens

Democrats are “massively” opposed

House Democrats are expected to vote against an upcoming appropriations bill funding the Department of Homeland Security because it does not go far enough to restrict Immigration and Customs Enforcement after an agent killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis this month.

Congressional appropriators released a sweeping bipartisan package Tuesday that would fund the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security ahead of Congress’ deadline to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year at the end of January. The House is expected to vote on the funding plan Thursday, and Republican leaders have reportedly agreed to allow a separate vote on the DHS section of the bill so Democrats can express their dismay. But with no GOP opposition, the legislation is still expected to pass the House if the Republican conference doesn’t have absentee problems.

While House Democratic leaders have said they will vote against the DHS portion of the package — and much of the House Democratic caucus is expected to do the same, including many Democratic supporters in the House — those who plan to support the measure say the steps the bill does to cut ICE are better than nothing. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat on the House Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee, suggested it was better to vote for the bill rather than give DHS a “blank check” in the form of a continuing resolution that Republicans would likely try to pass.

The details of the bill, according to NBC News:

The plan would keep ICE funding essentially flat at $10 billion for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, even though the agency received an additional $75 billion for detention and enforcement from Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the leading Democratic sponsor, acknowledged that the package did not include broad reforms to rein in ICE in a statement from her office announcing the bill. But she endorsed the package, saying it would prevent a partial shutdown and arguing that it included some Democratic priorities.

These supposed priorities include funding to force ICE agents to wear body cameras and language that “encourages” DHS to create a new uniform policy that would “ensure that law enforcement officers are clearly identifiable as federal law enforcement.” It also includes some cuts to Trump’s vast deportation budget: It would also “reduce funding for ICE enforcement and deportation operations by $115 million and reduce the number of ICE detention beds by 5,500.”

What really matters is how Senate Democrats respond once the bill comes up for a vote in the upper chamber, because Republicans will need the support of at least seven Democrats to pass the bill. The Senate doesn’t return until next week, so exactly how individual senators and Democratic leaders in the upper chamber plan to approach the appropriations bill will be clearer then.

But some Senate Democrats spoke out against the DHS portion of the bill. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) has been calling on Democrats to oppose DHS funding for at least the last week. After the bill’s text was released Tuesday, he issued a statement saying it “places no significant constraints on ICE’s growing lawlessness and increases funding for detention compared to the last appropriations bill passed in 2024.”