TL/DR –
Congress leaders have released the final four measures to fund the US government to prevent another shutdown. The final package provides financial support for several departments including Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security. However, Democrats opposed funding for the homeland security department unless it included reforms in the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), leading to a reduction in ICE’s detention budget and capacity, an over $1 billion cut in the Customs and Border Protection budget, and new restrictions on the Department of Homeland Security’s powers.
Government Funding Measures Released to Prevent Another Shutdown
Washington – Congressional leaders released the final four measures to fund the government on Tuesday ahead of a looming January 30 deadline to avoid another government shutdown. These measures follow the approval of a three-bill funding package in November to end the longest government shutdown in the country’s history and temporarily extend most government funding.
The House and Senate approved another three-bill funding package recently and last week two more measures have been approved by the House. The Senate will consider these upon return to Washington next week. The final package of four bills, also known as a “minibus,” was publicly shared on Tuesday.
This legislation would fund the departments of Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security. The Homeland Security Department appropriations were omitted last week following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
Democrats demanded ICE reforms to support the funding. The top Democratic appropriator in the Senate, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, said that the Democrats had curbed GOP attempts to increase the ICE budget, successfully reduced ICE’s detention budget and capacity, and cut CBP’s budget by over $1 billion, among other constraints on DHS.
New restrictions on DHS, mandatory training for officers, and $20 million allocation for body cameras for immigration enforcement agents were some of the significant highlights in the funding measure, celebrated by the Democrats.
However, top Democratic appropriator in the House, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, suggested that the bill didn’t include wider reforms sought by Democrats and may not satisfy some colleagues.
DeLauro and Murray further pointed out that neither a continuing resolution nor government shutdown would reign in ICE due to the funding set aside in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. The House is set to vote on the final funding measures this week, and the Homeland Security funding measure will likely be discussed separately.
Once passed by the House, the package will move to the Senate for approval before the January 30 deadline. The president’s signature will then be needed to finalize the six funding bills.
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