The House narrowly voted Tuesday to clear a spending package that ends a four-day partial government shutdown and keeps most federal agencies funded through the remainder of the fiscal year.
The Department of Homeland Security is funded only through Feb. 13. Democrats say they will not support a full-year appropriations bill without guardrails on President Trump’s deportation force.
Many Republicans are skeptical that Democrats want a compromise to make changes to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations amid left-wing calls to abolish the agency.
“They’re intentionally trying to sabotage the DHS approps bill, purely on politics, not policy,” Rep. Tony Gonzales, Texas Republican, told The Washington Times.
The 217-214 House vote on the spending package was close, with 21 Democratic votes in favor offsetting 21 Republican votes against.
In addition to stopgap spending for the Homeland Security Department, the legislation provides delayed fiscal 2026 funding for the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, State, Treasury, and Transportation. These bills had broad bipartisan support when they passed the House previously.
Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said most members of his party “feel deeply concerned that even two weeks of ICE continued funding is, in a sense, blessing what they have done and what they will continue to do.”
The public outcry after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti during protests of ICE in Minneapolis has given Democrats confidence in their fight.
The ongoing immigration enforcement debate served as a distraction from what Mr. Trump described as a “great victory” in the spending package, the third enacted since November, which collectively funds 96% of the government.
“Instead of a bloated and wasteful omnibus monstrosity full of special interest handouts, we’ve succeeded in passing a fiscally responsible package that actually cuts wasteful federal spending while supporting critical programs,” the president said as he signed the bill Tuesday evening.
He said he was glad the partial shutdown did not last. The 43-day shutdown that kicked off the fiscal year was estimated to cost the economy 1.5 points in gross domestic product, and Mr. Trump said another prolonged closure would have made it “even worse.”
When asked about negotiating with Democrats on immigration enforcement, Mr. Trump touted his progress in deporting criminals but did not address Democrats’ demands to rein in federal agents’ tactics.
Democrats’ conditions for supporting a full-year Homeland Security funding bill include ending roving immigration patrols, requiring agents to wear body cameras and identification, and mandating independent investigations of use-of-force incidents.
“Taxpayer dollars should not be spent to brutalize and kill American citizens,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who attended the Oval Office signing ceremony along with other Republican leaders and appropriators, brought up his plan to force Democrats to vote on ending sanctuary policies as part of the funding debate.
“I hope you’re going to press that very hard. We are with you. I think everybody’s with you,” said Mr. Trump, arguing that Democratic-led cities could make federal operations a lot easier if they did not provide “a sanctuary for criminals.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said cities and states must work with federal law enforcement as a necessary condition for his conference to support any deal.
He said Republicans will not agree to any Democratic proposals designed to reduce immigration enforcement, such as a requirement for ICE to obtain judicial warrants rather than rely on administrative warrants.
Getting judicial approval to arrest and deport tens of millions of illegal immigrants is “unimplementable,” Mr. Johnson said.
“We don’t have enough judges. We don’t have enough time. It would take decades, probably, to do that,” he said. “The people who are advocating for that don’t want any immigration enforcement.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, said the speaker’s assessment of the judicial warrant requirement is “way off.”
“If I’m going in somebody’s home, I need authority to go in. I just can’t be a masked ICE agent and break into someone’s home,” he said. “But as important, there are some areas that ought to be off limits — schools, churches, day care centers, those kinds of things.”
Other early sticking points are a ban on masks and a requirement that agents carry identification. Democrats said these are key to accountability and the same standard under which all other law enforcement agencies operate.
Republicans say ICE agents need to protect their identities because they have been doxed and targeted in ways that other law enforcement officials are not.
Mr. Gonzales, who serves on the Appropriations and Homeland Security committees, said Democrats’ demands are “unrealistic” and show they are not interested in an outcome.
He noted that the Trump administration had taken steps to lower the tension, such as working with local officials in Minneapolis and equipping agents with body cameras.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top House Democratic appropriator, supported the spending package Tuesday but said she is not committed to backing a full-year bill if Democrats’ demands are not met.
“I want to take the time in the interim 10 days to beat the s—- out of, excuse me, of these folks on Homeland Security and what we want to get,” she said. “There’s an opportunity to do that and let the Republicans defend what’s happening with DHS. And then at the end of those 10 days, if you don’t do anything, you vote against it.”
Republicans say a Democratic shutdown of the Homeland Security Department would not affect ICE or border security, which have a separate stream of funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but would harm other essential agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard.
• Mallory Wilson contributed to this report.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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