House passes budget blueprint to fund ICE and CBP via reconciliation

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a budget plan that funds immigration enforcement for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term, over strong objections from Democrats.

Lawmakers voted 215-211 along party lines to take a critical step toward ending a record-breaking Department of Homeland Security funding cut that began Feb. 14.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., who caucuses with Republicans, cast the present vote. While House Democrats united against immigration enforcement, all Republicans present voted in support.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said only a handful of Republicans with their narrow majority could prevent secession.

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The House’s approval of the Senate-passed budget framework unlocks the partisan budget reconciliation process that Republicans have used to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection without the support of congressional Democrats.

Trump gave Republicans a June 1 deadline to send a budget reconciliation bill to his desk, giving GOP leadership little room for error.

“We have a real sense of urgency to get this done,” Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday.

The successful vote came after more than a dozen GOP lawmakers from conservatives to farm states and Midwestern Republicans withdrew their votes over concerns unrelated to the budget framework.

Republican leadership kept the vote open for more than five hours to win before converting numerous holdouts and six GOP lawmakers who voted “no” to “yes.”

Those lawmakers include Reps. Max Miller, R-Ohio, Andy Harris, R-Md., Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., Andrew Clyde, R-Ga. and Michael Cloud, R-Texas.

“That’s why they say making the law is like watching sausages being made,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s it, but we’ll figure it out.”

The budget resolution funding Trump’s immigration agenda is just one part of Republicans’ DHS funding strategy.

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House GOP leadership has not indicated when it plans to pursue a Senate-passed measure to fund the rest of the department.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S.D. and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., agreed weeks ago to a two-pronged approach to funding DHS that skirted Democratic opposition. But Johnson has so far refused to introduce the Senate’s partial DHS bill to the House over concerns it would zero out funding for immigration enforcement.

Johnson said earlier this week that some “changes” to the measure might be necessary but did not elaborate on specific changes.

On Tuesday, the White House sent an internal memo to Hill offices, obtained by Fox News Digital, urging the Senate to pass the partial DHS bill, increasing pressure on Johnson to act.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., successfully shepherded a budget plan through the House on Wednesday that sets up three years of funding for President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg)

Most House Republicans want ICE and Border Patrol to be funded before the rest of the department, which could mean a delay of several more weeks.

“I think there is a serious problem with the bill because of the zeroing out of ICE and CBP,” Rep. Eric Burlison, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News. “It’s one thing to not fund it, but it’s a whole other thing to put a zero on the bill.”

“I know the speaker is working to make sure we have all the safeguards and maybe even the cash in terms of completing the compromise before we get the other 95% of Homeland Security,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas.

Meanwhile, the White House is warning that funds to pay the department’s hundreds of thousands of employees will be limited starting in May.

“If this funding runs out, the Administration will be unable to pay DHS staff starting in May, which will once again disrupt air travel, leave critical law enforcement officers and the Coast Guard, including our brave Secret Service agents, without pay, and endanger national security,” the White House statement released Tuesday said.

House Republicans’ approval of the Senate plan also effectively closes the door to adding other GOP priorities to the budget package. Some GOP lawmakers have floated adding affordability-focused provisions, additional defense-oriented funding and the SAVE America Act to the bill.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said Wednesday that the House is unlikely to pass the Senate’s partial DHS bill until more progress is made on funding immigration enforcement. (Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg)

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GOP leadership has argued for weeks that a larger bill risks derailing the budget reconciliation process.

“We’re focused on funding Homeland Security and stopping the Democratic shutdown and using reconciliation specifically to fund ICE and CBP because Democrats have refused to fund it,” Arrington said. he said. “Nothing else has anything to do with this conversation.”