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Republican-Led House Passes 2026 Funding, Reverses Trump Cuts
Senate, Trump Expected to Approve and Sign 4-Part Package, Along With 2 Other Bills to Fund Government Through Sept. 30
Key Takeaways:
- The Republican-controlled House passed a $1.2 trillion funding package Jan. 22, restoring money for medical research, education and refugee aid while keeping some White House-backed cuts.
- The deal splits Homeland Security funding to let Democrats oppose immigration raids, passed major bills by wide margins and includes $839 billion for defense.
- The Senate is expected to act before a Jan. 30 shutdown deadline, and if approved and signed, the measures would fund the government through Sept. 30.
The Republican-controlled House overwhelmingly passed annual funding measures Jan. 22, reversing some of Donald Trump’s most controversial federal spending cuts, including restoring money for medical research, refugee assistance and even the Department of Education.
The Senate is expected to approve the House’s four-part package, along with two other bills already approved in the House, before a Jan. 30 shutdown deadline. The White House said Trump intends to sign the spending measures, putting Washington on track to avoid a disruption to government services.
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The Trump administration may still try to withhold funding for programs it opposes by asserting an expansive view of its executive authority. But Democratic lawmakers expressed confidence that courts would be more likely to force the administration to release funds with new bills enacted and signed by the president.
“The courts are our friends,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top-ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “It’s critically important to reaffirm that power of the purse resides here.”
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DeLauro
Party leaders worked out a deal to separate Homeland Security Department spending, allowing many Democrats to vote against funding immigration raids while still allowing the overall set of bills to move forward to the Senate.
The Homeland Security funding passed 220 to 207, with seven Democrats supporting the measure. The vote on funding for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development was 341 to 88.
Republicans gave their support to the compromise bills, arguing that spending remains below Biden-era levels.
Getting everybody to work together, to put this together helps us show that we can control our own house, and we can control the spending in this country.
Dave Joyce (R-Ohio)
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The spending package sent to the Senate maintains some cuts championed by the White House and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, including the elimination of USAID and all federal funding for public broadcasting.
It also ends a temporary pause on federal employee layoffs.
“Getting everybody to work together, to put this together helps us show that we can control our own house, and we can control the spending in this country,” said Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), a member of the Appropriations Committee.
The measures increase funding for the National Institutes of Health despite Trump’s effort to cut back the medical research centers and maintain funding for the Department of Education, which Trump has sought to eliminate.
Government data collection at the Bureau of Labor Statistics is boosted rather than cut, the agency that gives grants to museums is kept alive and the federal housing agency gets $37 billion more than Trump wanted. Transit projects opposed by the administration, such as New York’s Gateway tunnel and Amtrak, are funded along with billions of dollars for lawmaker pet projects.
The $1.2 trillion package includes $839 billion in defense funding, some $8 billion more than the Trump budget requested. That fits a long tradition of Congress giving the Pentagon more weaponry than it sought.
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Jeffries
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Republicans agreed to reject some proposed spending cuts to programs like housing assistance after off-year elections showed voters are concerned about the economy.
“A lot of progress has been made in the appropriations process addressing issues of concern,” Jeffries said.
Senate Democrats are expected to supply the votes to pass the Homeland Security funding despite the stance by House Democrats. At least seven Democrats will be needed to end a Senate filibuster on the bill.
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Murray
Top Senate Democrat spending panel member Patty Murray of Washington argues that a shutdown of DHS wouldn’t actually affect ICE since Trump secured $75 billion in multiyear funding for immigration raids as part of the Trump tax bill.
Progressive groups are urging Democrats to take a firmer stance on funding ICE. But Democratic leaders appear reluctant to embrace a shutdown over any attempt to “abolish ICE” in an election year or to jeopardize a hard-won compromise reversing many DOGE cuts.
Jeffries stopped short of calling on Democratic senators to block the combined package over ICE’s campaign of raids in Democratic cities, citing “progress” on other priorities.
The funding measures, if passed by the Senate and signed into law by the president, will complete funding for the U.S. government through the Sept. 30 end of the federal fiscal year.
