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A small group of moderate House Democrats broke with their party on Thursday to help Republicans pass a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, overcoming fierce opposition from most Democrats angered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s aggressive operations in Minneapolis and other U.S. cities.
The DHS funding measure passed 220–207, with seven Democrats voting with Republicans. The House also approved a broader package funding other federal agencies in a bipartisan vote, moving Congress closer to averting a partial government shutdown set for Jan. 31.
In a surprise twist, lawmakers unanimously adopted an amendment repealing a Senate-crafted law that allows eight Republican senators to sue the federal government for at least $500,000 after their phone records were collected during a Jan. 6 investigation.
The House combined the repeal with six remaining appropriations bills into a single package, which now heads to the Senate. The move puts senators in a bind: accept the repeal or risk triggering a shutdown next week while the House is scheduled to be in recess.
Final stretch of government funding
Appropriations leaders in both chambers have already signed off on the overall funding framework, which would finance the government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. If enacted, it would complete all 12 annual spending bills required to keep federal agencies operating.
House Republicans celebrated after the vote, with aides seen carrying Champagne bottles into a private room off the chamber floor.
“Despite the noise, despite our slim margins, despite the fact that most members in the House have never gone through a regular, member-driven appropriations process before, this team got it done,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a news conference. “The House has now passed all 12 appropriations bills, the Senate will soon do the same, and the president is going to sign them into law — what a concept.”
Democratic backlash over ICE
The DHS vote exposed deep fissures within the Democratic caucus as anger over ICE intensified following the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, by an ICE officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and his leadership team joined most Democrats in voting against the bill, arguing it lacked sufficient accountability measures for ICE.
“ICE is out of control and operating, in far too many ways, in a lawless fashion,” Jeffries told reporters, accusing the agency of “using taxpayer dollars to inflict brutality on the American people,” including killing Good “in cold blood.”
Even Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top House Democratic appropriator and a key negotiator of the broader funding deal, voted against the DHS measure — an unusual step for a party leader so closely tied to the process.
Who broke ranks
The seven Democrats who supported the DHS funding bill were Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas; Jared Golden of Maine; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington; Don Davis of North Carolina; and Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi of New York. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the lone Republican to vote no.
Jeffries declined to criticize individual members, saying, “You have to ask every individual member who’s going to vote the best interest of their district why they’ve chosen to vote one way or the other.”
Left-wing frustration
Some Democrats expressed frustration that the party failed to extract tougher ICE guardrails, contrasting it with last fall’s 43-day shutdown over Affordable Care Act funding.
“Instead of explaining to the American people why the immigration system is broken and how to fix it, we just have a bunch of Democrats trying to be tougher on immigration than Republicans,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. “It’s never worked.”
Jayapal argued that fear of political backlash after President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign victory has made Democrats reluctant to embrace pro-immigrant positions.
She suggested the DHS deal moved forward because appropriators prioritized finishing the funding package. “Appropriators often — they just care about getting the bills through,” she said.
What Democrats did secure
DeLauro and Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., have emphasized that Democrats secured several concessions, including $20 million for body cameras for ICE personnel, cuts to enforcement and removal operations, and reductions in detention bed funding.
Murray pointed instead to wins across the broader funding package, including money for child care, housing assistance, mental health services and Pell Grants, often reversing cuts proposed by Trump.
“There is much more we must do to rein in DHS,” Murray said. “But the hard truth is that Democrats must win political power to enact the kind of accountability we need.”
No path forward for ICE abolition
Meanwhile, some Democrats are escalating opposition to ICE itself. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., has introduced the Abolish ICE Act, while Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., proposed the MELT ICE Act, which would eliminate detention funding and redirect resources to social services.
Neither proposal is expected to advance under Republican control of both chambers.
