03.27.26 - What’s happening with Homeland Security funding?

Last night, the Senate passed legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. 

If this bill is signed into law, the Department will reopen, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents will get paid, and airport lines will shrink—without funneling more money to the administration’s mass deportation machine. However, the bill’s path to the President’s desk hasn’t yet come into focus.

Here’s what you need to know. 

Remind me: why did DHS shut down? 

In January, Congress funded most of the government through September 30. They only funded DHS, however, through February 13 to give lawmakers time to negotiate funding restrictions that address ICE and Border Patrol’s violent tactics in the wake of Renée Good and Alex Pretti’s murders. Those talks failed to produce an agreement and, therefore, DHS shut down on February 14. 

Why didn’t Congress just fund DHS without ICE and Border Patrol at that point? 

Republicans refused. House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro introduced a bill to do just that on February 11, before DHS even shut down, to keep the Department running while immigration-focused talks continued. Had Congress taken up the DeLauro proposal, it could have reached this same outcome six weeks ago. 

So, if the Senate-passed bill becomes law, what happens to ICE and Border Patrol funding? 

ICE and Border Patrol activities continued unabated during the DHS shutdown because last summer’s Republican budget law allocated an extra $170 billion for immigration enforcement, paid for by cuts to health care and food assistance. As a result, ICE and Border Patrol have ample funding to tap into, even without appropriations from Congress. The agencies can continue operating using those funds. 

Congressional Republicans would, reportedly, eventually try to send ICE and Border Patrol additional funds via reconciliation—the same process they used to pass last summer’s GOP budget law. This would allow them to fund the agencies via a partisan vote and exclude the kinds of reforms Democrats have proposed. However, reconciliation is a protracted process; see The Basics of Budget Reconciliation for the details. 

What will happen in the House now? 

TBD. The Senate left for a two-week recess, and House lawmakers were slated to do the same before this ball landed in their court. House Democrats appear to be onboard with the Senate-passed bill. House Republicans seem, to put it mildly, super unhappy about it. 

The House GOP is reportedly discussing a two-month continuing resolution that would fund all of DHS, but that will be dead on arrival in the Senate. Even if the Senate was onboard, again, they’ve left for two weeks. If the House passes anything other than exactly what the Senate approved last night, DHS will stay shut down at least until the Senate returns. 

Here are the House’s options for the Senate-passed bill.

Bring the Senate-passed bill to the floor under a rule (simple majority vote)

This option allows the bill to pass with a simple majority vote. But getting to that point requires the House to first pass a “rule” that sets parameters for debate. Votes on the rule are typically party-line, with majority Members supportive and minority Members opposed—even if Members of the minority party might support the underlying bill. 

What’s more, majority party Members’ support for the rule is not a given. House Republicans have voted with Democrats to defeat GOP-crafted rules multiple times this Congress. The House Freedom Caucus has already announced its opposition to the Senate-passed bill. 

This means that President Trump has to start twisting House Republicans’ arms to support the Senate bill, or enough Democrats must take the unusual step of supporting the GOP-crafted rule, offsetting any Republican defections. If that happens, and the rule passes, there are probably sufficient Democratic votes to pass the underlying bill and send it to the President’s desk to become law. 

Another small matter you might see come up: technically, the House rules don’t let you make a rule in the Rules Committee, pass the rule in the House, and then pass the underlying bill all in the same day. However, that’s a surmountable hurdle.  

Bring the Senate-passed bill to the floor under suspension of the rules (⅔ majority vote)

If Republicans can’t pass a rule, the House could consider the funding package under suspension of the rules. In this case, there is no separate vote on the rule and the House simply votes on the legislation at hand. However, this poses a few challenges. 

First, the threshold for passing a bill under suspension is much higher than it is under a rule. Rather than a simple majority vote, a vote under suspension requires support from at least two-thirds of the House for passage. So, to pass the Senate bill under suspension, at least 70 Democrats—the precise amount depends on the number of GOP defections—would need to vote for it. That might be doable, since the bill excludes funding for ICE and Border Patrol, but it’s more than a handful. 

Second, there’s another fun feature of House rules that prevents the chamber from passing suspension bills if it’s not Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. That means this option could take a few days—and, again, lawmakers really want to get out of D.C. 

Third, the same GOP hardliners who won’t vote for a rule are going to be pretty mad if Speaker Johnson brings this bill to the floor under suspension of the rules. Mad enough to depose him? Probably not if President Trump throws his weight behind the Senate-passed bill. But it’s certainly not going to make the Speaker any new Republican friends.

Stay tuned!

If you’d like a live update for your group or coalition, reach out to catherine@webuildprogress.org. Thanks!