House Republicans advance 2026 Homeland Security funding bill
The GOP-led House Appropriations Committee approved the bill along party lines on Tuesday evening after members spent hours debating the legislation and proposed changes to the text.
The bill allows for about $66 billion in total discretionary funding for fiscal year 2026, with the non-defense portion of those funds accounting for roughly $63 billion, or nearly two percent higher than current levels. It also calls for about a one percent decrease in defense funds for the annual bill, amounting to about $3.3 billion.
Additionally, the bill allows for $26.5 billion in funding for what negotiators describe as 'major disaster response and recovery activities' and $6.3 billion in discretionary appropriations offset by fee collections.
The measure comes as Republicans are also looking to greenlight further funding for the administration's mass deportation plans and immigration enforcement as part of a separate package aimed at advancing the president's tax agenda that GOP leadership hopes to pass before August.
Among the biggest increases in the plan advanced on Tuesday is a nearly $1 billion boost for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which would see $11 billion under the House GOP proposal. Republicans say the funding would allow for 50,000 detention beds, an increase for Transportation and Removal Operations to 'effectuate the removal orders of the more than 1.3 million aliens who no longer have a legal basis to remain in this country.'
The bill calls for $31.8 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), or a $4.5 billion jump above current levels, and proposes $26.5 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF). It would also boost funds for the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers.
However, it pushes to cut funding for a list of offices while calling for the elimination of the Shelter and Services Program, the Case Management Pilot Program, funding for soft-sided facilities, the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman, the Family Reunification Task Force and border management activities.
It would also reduce funding for the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Office of the Secretary, the Office of Public Affairs, the Office of Policy, the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Legislative Affairs.
Republicans have touted the bill as delivering on key investments for the Trump administration's immigration enforcement and border security efforts.
'Alongside renewed leadership in the White House, we are replacing the consequences of past weakness with a posture of strong U.S. preparedness,' Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), head of the subcommittee that crafted the annual DHS funding bill, said in a statement.
'From our borders and ports to aviation and cyber, we deliver the personnel, training, and technology to reinforce our community defenses and confront those who wish us harm. I commend the advancement of this legislation, which ensures our laws are enforced, our agencies are equipped, and our citizens are protected.'
But in a bill report accompanying the funding legislation, appropriators also detailed concerns with ICE's 'financial management practices,' which they noted 'have led to an inappropriate and disproportionate reliance on reprogramming and transfer authority to ensure solvency at the end of any given fiscal year over the past decade.'
'Actions already taken in fiscal year 2025 are especially egregious—ICE began spending more than its appropriated level shortly after the fiscal year commenced and operations now far exceed available resources,' it said, referring to the fiscal year that runs from October 2024 to September 2025. 'In order to sustain this heightened operational tempo, ICE has and will likely continue to use the bill's transfer and reprogramming authority to the maximum extent, once again taking from other components' operational priorities.'
Democrats have come out in staunch opposition to the overall House GOP funding proposal.
'It fails to protect American citizens from being confronted in their homes and offices, or having their property seized, as this Administration's deportation policies ignore the boundaries of our laws,' Rep. Lauren Underwood (Ill.), top Democrat on the subcommittee alongside Amodei, said in a statement. 'It shamefully allows law enforcement to continue snatching people off the street, at church, at schools, without requiring proper identification or due process.'
'Meanwhile, the White House requested zero dollars to supplement FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund that all Americans rely on to recover from major disasters, and fails to acknowledge an urgent $8 billion dollar deficit in the DRF.'
The committee considered a series of amendments on Tuesday during the hearing, including proposals by Democrats seeking to block the detention of U.S. citizens, the elimination of FEMA, or the dismantling of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.
An amendment offered by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) also sought to further reduce funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the bill, which currently calls for $2.7 billion for the agency, or about $135 million lower than current levels.
In detailing the amendment on Tuesday, Clyde said his proposal would reduce funding for the agency to be more in line with cuts sought in President Trump's fiscal year 2026 budget request level for the agency.
'I believe this cut is necessary to rein in the waste abuse and mission drift and politicization, political weaponization, excuse me, that plague to CISA under the Biden-Harris administration, as well as to return the agency to its core mission,' he said, while praising the Trump administration for 'proposing a $491 million cut to CISA.'
However, Clyde ultimately withdrew his amendment, saying he reserved 'to offer on the floor.'
In remarks at votes later he told The Hill that he thinks the House floor is a 'better venue than in committee,' adding he thinks 'we'll be more successful on the House floor than we would in committee.'
Amodei told The Hill shortly after that he opposed the amendment and said 'it wouldn't get adopted' if brought to a vote in committee, adding he thinks 'CISA's taken enough hits already.'
'They've been punished enough for their alleged prior administration stuff, time to move on, especially since we're not in the middle of a receding threat environment,' he said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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