Congress has still not completed the appropriations process for fiscal year (FY) 2026—funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) immigration functions (ICE and Border Control) remains undone—but lawmakers did pass legislation to fund the rest of DHS—including money to pay TSA officers (thus averting renewed risk of more air travel disruptions).
The Senate approved a bill that would fully fund DHS except for ICE and border control several weeks ago, but the House declined to take up that bill until a solution for funding ICE and Border Control was found. That solution turned out to be the Senate-passed Congressional Budget Resolution (CBR) that authorizes an all-GOP reconciliation bill to fund ICE and Border Control for 3 ½ years. After hours of intense negotiations among Republicans who wanted more reconciliation authority (to, among other things, address tax issues) and those who argued that the Senate-passed CBR with its limited reconciliation authority was the only thing that had the votes to pass, the House approved that CBR with its “skinny” reconciliation instructions on April 30.
Prospects: Reconciliation—which President Trump says must happen by June 1—remains a hotly controversial initiative. More struggles are looming as a considerable number of Republicans, especially in the House, want to expand the bill beyond only funding ICE and Border Control. But the situation currently defers most if not all other issues of concern to NAIFA members and their clients.
NAIFA Staff Contacts: Diane Boyle – Senior Vice President – Government Relations, at dboyle@naifa.org; Mike Hedge – Senior Director – Government Relations, at mhedge@naifa.org; or Jayne Fitzgerald – Director – Government Relations, at jfitzgerald@naifa.org