Senate Passes Spending Deal As DHS Funding Stalls Over Immigration Fight
The U.S. Senate moved Friday to avert prolonged fiscal paralysis by passing an amended spending package that temporarily strips full-year funding for the Department of Homeland Security and replaces it with a two-week stopgap, giving lawmakers additional time to battle over immigration enforcement and border security policy.
The broader legislation maintains full-year funding for the Departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, State, Transportation, and Treasury—bringing Congress to the brink of completing the long-delayed fiscal 2026 appropriations process, The Washington Times reported.
The bill passed the Senate by a 71–29 vote just hours before a midnight deadline. Despite the progress, the federal government will still enter a partial shutdown through at least Monday, when the House is expected to return to Washington and vote on the revised package.
Lawmakers from both parties downplayed the impact of the short-term lapse, arguing that disruptions would be minimal if the House acts quickly.
President Donald Trump, now serving his second term, said he supported the agreement to prevent further economic harm from Washington dysfunction.
“Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote,” Trump wrote on social media Thursday evening after negotiators reached a deal.
Democrats had previously backed a full-year DHS funding measure but abruptly reversed course following the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen protester Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis last weekend. Party leaders are now demanding changes aimed at restricting the Trump administration’s deportation operations and imposing new limitations on federal agents.
Their proposed conditions include ending roving immigration enforcement patrols, requiring judicial warrants, mandating that agents unmask, wear body cameras, and carry identification.
Republicans, meanwhile, are pressing competing priorities centered on enforcing federal immigration law and curbing sanctuary city policies that allow state and local governments to obstruct cooperation with federal authorities.
Once enacted, the package will mark congressional approval of 11 of the 12 fiscal 2026 spending bills.
“We will have funded 96% of all of government,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said ahead of the final vote.
Collins argued the milestone demonstrates that Congress is capable of bipartisan governance and fulfilling its constitutional duty to fund the federal government and set spending priorities for executive agencies.
The progress comes more than three months into the fiscal year, which began in October following a record 43-day government shutdown.
Senate leaders had aimed to pass the revised package Thursday night, but the effort was derailed after failing to secure unanimous consent. The delay opened the door for lawmakers from both parties to force votes on amendments designed to highlight ideological priorities and draw sharp contrasts.
Every proposed amendment failed.
The only substantive change adopted was the removal of full-year DHS funding in favor of the two-week stopgap.
Among the rejected proposals was an amendment from Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky to cut $5 billion in refugee assistance funding. GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri offered a measure to defund the National Endowment for Democracy, which also failed.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced multiple amendments aimed at eliminating earmarks and defunding the United States African Development Foundation. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont proposed repealing a $75 billion increase in ICE funding enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and redirecting the money to Medicaid—an effort Republicans rejected.
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon sought to ban “pocket rescissions,” a maneuver allowing the White House to request late-year spending cuts to avoid mandatory expenditures.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also delayed final passage until securing commitments from Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota for future votes on two of his legislative priorities.
One proposal would ban sanctuary city policies and impose criminal penalties on officials if illegal immigrants released from custody later kill or seriously injure someone. Graham also locked in support for a future vote on legislation creating an adjudication process for conservatives whose phone records were surveilled during the Biden-era Arctic Frost investigation.
As Congress limps toward finishing its spending work, the standoff underscores a familiar divide: Republicans pushing for immigration enforcement and accountability, and Democrats seeking to restrain federal authority—even at the risk of another shutdown.