House Republicans passed a budget blueprint Wednesday that clears the way to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the rest of President Trump's term without a single Democratic vote. The 215-211 party-line vote ends a record-breaking Department of Homeland Security funding lapse that began February 14.
The approval unlocks budget reconciliation — the same process Democrats used to ram through massive spending bills — allowing Republicans to bypass the Senate filibuster and fund immigration enforcement agencies. Only Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, who caucuses with Republicans, voted present while every Democrat opposed the measure.
House Speaker Mike Johnson could afford just a handful of defections with Republicans' razor-thin majority. The vote stayed open for more than five hours as leadership worked to flip six GOP lawmakers who initially voted no, including Reps. Max Miller of Ohio, Andy Harris of Maryland, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, and Michael Cloud of Texas.
"This is why they say lawmaking is like watching sausage be made," Johnson told reporters Wednesday. "That's what this is, but we'll get it done." The Speaker emphasized urgency, telling Fox News "We have a real sense of urgency about getting this done" as Trump has given Republicans a June 1 deadline to deliver the reconciliation bill.
The successful vote came after more than a dozen GOP lawmakers spanning conservative hardliners to farm-state moderates withheld support over various unrelated concerns. Republican leadership spent hours negotiating with holdouts to secure the bare minimum needed for passage.
This budget resolution represents just one piece of Republicans' two-track strategy to restore DHS funding. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Johnson agreed weeks ago to steer around Democratic obstruction, but Johnson has declined to bring up a Senate-passed partial DHS funding measure over concerns it eliminates immigration enforcement funding entirely.
The vote delivers Trump a key legislative victory in his immigration crackdown, giving ICE and Border Patrol guaranteed funding streams that Democrats cannot block. For American taxpayers, this means federal resources will flow directly to agencies tasked with removing illegal immigrants and securing the border — priorities that polling shows clear majorities support.
The reconciliation process now moves to crafting the actual spending legislation, where Republicans must balance competing priorities while maintaining unity in their narrow majority. Johnson faces the delicate task of keeping his conference together while meeting Trump's aggressive timeline for final passage.
