GOP's ICE funding gambit squeezes Republican agenda

Source: The Hill

04/06/26 6:00 AM ET


Republicans’ plan to use the special budget reconciliation process to fund immigration enforcement without help from Democrats will complicate their hopes of using one of their few remaining shots at a GOP-only bill on priorities including voting reform, Pentagon funding due to the Iran war and cuts aimed at cracking down on fraud in federal programs.

President Trump set a June 1 deadline for a reconciliation bill that funds Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol as part of a two-step plan to end the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown, giving up on coming to a compromise with Democrats demanding reforms as a condition of funding immigration enforcement.

But with Republican leaders hoping to keep that bill as narrow as possible to meet the deadline, there is a growing consensus that those who had been advocating for a follow-up to last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will actually need a third measure to achieve their priorities — a task that becomes exponentially more difficult the closer to election season Republicans get.

“Speed is the most important thing. Speed so that we have ICE and CBP fully funded,” said Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus. “So if you can do other things and be fast, I think that’s great. There’s lot of things we would like to do, but given that we’ve already established there will be a third reconciliation bill, whether it’s in 2.0 or 3.0, we’ll still get it done.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5815556-ice-funding-dhs-reconciliation/