House approves spending bills as Democrats denounce ICE funding

WASHINGTON — The House passed the final batch of this year’s spending bills Thursday as lawmakers, still reeling from last fall’s record 43-day shutdown, worked to avoid another loss of funding for a large 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 ministries, including Education, Transport, Health and Social Services. A fourth bill funding the Department of Homeland Security was hotly contested as Democrats raised concerns that it failed to curb President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

Republicans managed to overcome Democrats’ objections and pass the Homeland Security bill by a vote of 220 to 207. The broader plan, which funds a 3.8 percent pay increase for military personnel, passed by a vote of 341 to 88.

Ahead of the votes, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives announced their opposition to the Homeland Security bill as the party’s base demanded a tougher stance in response to the Republican president’s immigration crackdown. Trump’s efforts have recently been focused in the Minneapolis area, where more than 2,000 agents are stationed and where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good, a mother of three.

In a joint statement, Democratic leaders said Trump promised the American people that his deportation policy would focus on violent criminals in the country illegally, but instead ICE has targeted law-abiding American citizens and immigrant families.

“Taxpayer dollars are being misused to brutalize American citizens, including the tragic murder of Renee Nicole Good. This extremism must stop,” Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar said in a statement.

Democrats had limited options

Democrats had few good options to voice their opposition to funding for Homeland Security.

Lawmakers, faced with a funding impasse, typically turn to continuing resolutions to temporarily fund agencies at their current levels. But in this case, it would simply mean ceding more homeland security spending decisions to Trump, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

Additionally, there was concern that a failure to fund Homeland Security would harm disaster assistance programs and agencies, such as the Transportation Security Administration, while ICE and Customs and Border Protection would simply continue. 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, received $30 billion for its operations and $45 billion for detention centers thanks to the Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill.”

This year’s Homeland Security bill keeps the annual spending that Congress provides to ICE roughly flat from the previous year. It also restricts Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s ability to unilaterally transfer funds and allocate federal dollars as she sees fit. The bill also allocates $20 million for the purchase and operation of body cameras for ICE and CBP officers who interact 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 the Trump bill.

“That’s not all 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 homeland oversight,” said Rep. Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas, a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Republicans countered that the Homeland Security bill helps lawmakers fulfill their most important duty: keeping the American people safe.

“This legislation does exactly that and supports the America First agenda,” said Rep. Tom Cole, Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Republicans also celebrated avoiding a massive, catch-all funding bill, known as an omnibus, in this year’s appropriations process. Such bills, often passed before the holiday season by lawmakers eager to get home, have contributed to increased federal spending, they say. This year’s efforts, although a few months late, manage to keep non-defense spending just below current levels, they noted.

“This sends a clear and powerful message to our country: The House is back to work. We are back to government,” said Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo.

Anger in the House

One by one, Democratic lawmakers lined up to voice their opposition to the Homeland Security bill, with a particular focus on ICE, which quickly hired thousands of new deportation agents to implement the president’s mass deportation agenda.

Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota said people in her state were being racially profiled on a massive scale and kidnapped from their communities.

“Masked federal agents are arresting parents, yes, in front of terrified children,” McCollum said. “And a lot of these people that we find had no criminal 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 the political revenge of a vengeful president,” said Clark of Massachusetts. “I will not automatically approve of the federal government’s use of political violence against its own people and I ask all members of Parliament to join me in voting no. »

Cole denounced some comments about ICE in the House.

“It’s reckless to encourage people to believe that there are a multitude of bad actors in any particular agency,” Cole said.

In a last-minute addition to the package, the House added a provision that would repeal senators’ ability to sue the government over the collection of data on their cell phones as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Senators had already authorized lawsuits seeking up to $500,000 in damages in a previous funding bill, but the provision drew sharp criticism. The House unanimously agreed to block it.