The House is up to bat after the Senate passed a funding deal that sharply split Democrats and has immigration hawks threatening to vote “no,” a headache for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that could prolong a government shutdown that began at midnight on Saturday.
The upper chamber passed a sweeping spending bill on Friday night that largely aligns with the one that cleared the House in January, with the exception of a two-week extension for the Department of Homeland Security. The vast majority of Senate Republicans supported the bill, but there were five defections, and only half of Democrats voted “yes.”
The bill had the support of the White House, which agreed to split DHS funding from the rest of the legislation as Democrats seek reforms to immigration enforcement. But its fate in the House is still shaky, as Democratic leadership remains noncommittal about how their caucus will vote, and conservatives are making demands over election integrity.
The House, currently on a one-week recess, is poised to quickly consider the funding legislation when lawmakers return, meaning the government shutdown could be relatively short. Johnson told his conference on a members-only call on Friday that the plan is to hold votes on the Senate deal on Monday evening, the Washington Examiner confirmed.
Johnson can only afford to lose two Republicans and still pass a bill in a simple party-line vote, while another option is to lean more heavily on Democrats and fast-track the legislation, which sets a higher two-thirds threshold to make it through the House.
The latter strategy could be necessary as some Republicans signal opposition to the legislation. One member, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), reiterated this week that she and several of her colleagues were pushing to attach the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote, to the funding bill and were prepared to grind House business to a halt over it.
A spokesperson for Johnson told the Washington Examiner that it’s “still to be determined” whether he goes the party-line route, but Luna predicted on X that leadership would instead bet on Democrats swallowing their reservations over the DHS bill, which lacks the reforms to immigration enforcement they are demanding after agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said this week that he and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) remain in lockstep on their demands regarding ICE. The White House and Senate Republicans have expressed openness to some changes that Democrats insist be written into law, which could be negotiated by the time the two-week DHS funding patch expires.
Among their demands, Democrats want to “tighten” warrant requirements, mandate ICE coordination with state and local law enforcement, implement use-of-force rules similar to those for local police, and prohibit agents from masking their identities.
Jeffries didn’t specifically say on Friday whether he would support the spending bill, but he railed against conservative members pushing in the other direction on DHS reforms, as many Republicans are interested in curtailing “sanctuary city” policies.
“The demands being made by far-right extremists in the House Republican conference are going nowhere, and if, for whatever reason, Speaker Johnson bends the knee to the far-right, then Republicans are going to shut the government down, because they would apparently have zero interest in getting ICE and the Department of Homeland Security under control, which their own voters are demanding happen,” Jeffries told reporters.
Last week, seven Democrats voted with Republicans to pass a full-year version of the DHS funding bill, a vote that took place before the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti last weekend. One of the members, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), apologized for his vote, but Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) defended their decision.
It is likely some of the seven detractors will also support the short-term spending patch, but the vote count could be closer than Johnson would prefer, as previewed by the Democratic opposition in the Senate.
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and others have already said they are a “no” on the package.
SENATE PASSES FUNDING DEAL AS WHITE HOUSE BRACES FOR BRIEF SHUTDOWN
“My Progressive Caucus colleagues and I have been clear: Not another cent to ICE until we stop the chaos and lawlessness,” Casar said.
During Friday’s virtual conference meeting, House leadership stressed the need for maximum GOP attendance for the vote, a source on the call confirmed. House Republicans have been struggling with absences since the start of the month, with Johnson recently having to call Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) and demand he return to Washington to vote on appropriations bills and a war powers resolution concerning Venezuela. Hunt made it in time to cast the tiebreaking vote that sank the resolution.
Even if DHS funding is stalled, ICE is already funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. So any stalemate in the appropriations process wouldn’t affect the agency’s operations, but other departments under the DHS bill — such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, TSA, and the Coast Guard — would see a lapse in funds.
