Seven House Democrats crossed party leadership lines Thursday to help Republicans pass a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill, even as most of their caucus opposed the measure over demands for tighter limits on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
The DHS measure is set to be paired with three other spending bills, creating a broader package totaling roughly $1.2 trillion in federal spending. Its advance moves Congress closer to avoiding a government shutdown ahead of the Jan. 30 deadline.
House lawmakers voted on two separate packages Thursday afternoon. One combined three spending bills funding the departments of War, Education, Labor, Transportation, and Health and Human Services. The second was a standalone DHS bill that includes funding tied to ICE.
The DHS bill passed 220–207, boosted by seven Democratic votes. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was the lone Republican voting against it. The larger three-bill package passed 341–88, with 149 Democrats joining Republicans to send it forward.
Democratic leaders urged opposition to the DHS measure. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other senior Democrats argued the bill did not include enough restrictions to curb President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
With Thursday’s votes complete, the House cleared what leaders described as the final steps needed to avert a shutdown by the end of the month. The package also reflects an approach lawmakers touted as a break from the all-in-one “omnibus” strategy and from relying on short-term “continuing resolutions” (CRs). Under this strategy, lawmakers have advanced four smaller bundles containing two to three of the 12 annual appropriations bills.
Some conservatives still pushed to pass all 12 bills individually. But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called the process a return to regular order.
“This is a big thing,” Johnson told Fox News Digital. “We will be making history this week, having moved 12 [appropriations] bills through the process. A lot of people thought it would be impossible. But we stuck to it, stuck together — it’s a big thing.”
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., echoed that message on the House floor.
“We aren’t here for just another stopgap temporary fix,” Cole said. “We are here to finish the job by providing full-year funding. This measure is a product of sustained engagement and serious legislation.”
If the Senate approves the bills, the package would remove the threat of a government shutdown for the rest of fiscal year 2026.
But the DHS bill, even with limited Democratic support, drew sharp criticism from much of the party. Opponents argued it failed to add meaningful safeguards against ICE misconduct after a fatal encounter in Minneapolis involving an ICE agent and a woman identified as Renee Nicole Good. Good was shot and killed in her car. Republicans accused her of interfering with ICE operations shortly before her death.
“Kristi Noem and ICE are out of control. Taxpayer dollars are being misused to brutalize U.S. citizens, including the tragic killing of Renee Nicole Good. This extremism must end,” Jeffries said in a statement ahead of the vote.
Supporters and negotiators pointed to provisions included in the final DHS bill, including requirements for ICE agents to adopt body cameras and undergo additional training on how to interact with the public. Still, many Democrats argued the changes were insufficient.
“All the guardrails in the world don’t make sense if the administration isn’t going to follow the law and the language that we pass. Members have to take that into account,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., the No. 3 House Democrat. “Ultimately, members are going to vote [for] what’s in the best interest of their districts.”
The Senate is expected to take up the package next week, with the shutdown deadline nearing.
Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have maintained a fragile truce after recently emerging from the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, with little appetite for another standoff. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and many Democrats have argued the funding process is the most practical way to place limits on the administration’s actions, including its use of ICE.
Still, Senate passage is not assured. Some Senate Democrats have signaled they remain unhappy with the DHS provisions and say the bill does not go far enough.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, suggested he will oppose the package despite participating in negotiations.
In a lengthy statement, Murphy said the bill lacked “meaningful constraints on the growing lawlessness of ICE” and increased funding for detention compared with the last appropriations bill passed in 2024.
“Democrats have no obligation to support a bill that not only funds the dystopian scenes we are seeing in Minneapolis but will allow DHS to replicate that playbook of brutality in cities all over this country,” Murphy said.
