House Passes $64.4B Homeland Security Bill Keeping ICE Funding Flat Amid GOP-Dem Divide

The House narrowly approved a $64.4 billion Homeland Security funding bill that keeps Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding roughly flat at about $10 billion, overcoming intense opposition from most Democrats even as a broader $1.2 trillion government spending package sailed through on a bipartisan vote. The measures, passed Jan. 22, moved Congress closer to a Jan. 30 deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.nbcnews +1

The Homeland Security appropriations bill passed 220–207, with 206 Democrats voting no and just seven Democrats joining most Republicans in support; one Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, opposed it.nbcnews +1 In a separate vote, the House approved the rest of the funding package — covering defense, health, education, housing, transportation and more — by 341–88, reflecting far broader consensus on non-DHS spending.nytimes +1

ICE Funding Sparks Democratic Revolt

The central point of contention was ICE, whose budget the bill holds at about $10 billion while rejecting former President Donald Trump’s request for an additional $840 million.nbcnews +1 Progressive Democrats argued that flat funding amounted to a blank check after a Jan. 7 fatal shooting in Minneapolis by an ICE agent intensified scrutiny of the agency’s tactics.politico +1 House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said ICE was “out of control and operating, in far too many ways, in a lawless fashion,” as he urged his caucus to oppose the bill.thehill +1

Despite that pressure, seven Democrats — including Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Jared Golden of Maine — backed the measure, citing the need to avoid a shutdown and protect gains in other parts of the package, such as increases for housing, health and education programs.federalnewsnetwork +1 They pointed to new oversight provisions in the DHS bill, including $20 million to equip immigration enforcement agents with body cameras, $20 million for independent monitoring of detention facilities, a roughly $115 million cut to enforcement and removal operations, and reductions in detention bed capacity.politico +1

Legislative Deal vs. Shutdown Risk

Republicans framed the legislation as a pragmatic compromise that completed all 12 annual appropriations bills and averted reliance on stopgap funding.nytimes +1 House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole called it “a good, solid bill,” arguing that accountability measures like body cameras would “increase the professionalism” of ICE without undermining border security.politico Speaker Mike Johnson highlighted the House’s ability to finish the fiscal 2026 bills despite a slim GOP majority and cross-pressures on immigration policy.nytimes

The package also contained an amendment repealing a law that allowed eight Republican senators to sue the government for $500,000 over phone-records collection, setting up an additional flashpoint as the bill moves to the Senate.nytimes Senators returning from recess next week will face a choice: accept the House deal, preserving funding boosts for domestic agencies and new DHS guardrails, or reopen the fight over ICE and risk sliding toward a partial shutdown when current funding expires Jan. 30.politico +1

Looking Ahead

The Senate’s response will determine whether Democrats’ ICE revolt remains largely symbolic or forces substantive changes to the enforcement budget. Appropriators such as Sen. Patty Murray have signaled willingness to back the bills to avoid a shutdown and lock in oversight provisions that a temporary funding measure would not include.migrantinsider With immigration already a defining issue for the 2026 campaign, the vote exposed deep fissures within the Democratic Party over how far to go in confronting ICE — and left both parties balancing political risk against the immediate imperative of keeping the government open.