House Passes Funding Package to End Government Deadlock

President Donald Trump has signed a nearly $1.2 trillion funding package to end the four-day partial government shutdown on Feb. 3, following the Republican-led House’s passage of the bipartisan bill just hours prior.

The measure, which allocates funds for the Pentagon, Treasury, Education, Labor, and State departments until Sept. 30, passed with a vote of 217-214.

Additionally, the bill provides short-term funding to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for two weeks, giving lawmakers until Feb. 13 to negotiate reforms for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as Democrats call for more changes.

If both chambers fail to decide on a deal and pass the reforms, DHS will then shut down, affecting the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Border Patrol, FEMA, and several other agencies. Despite federal officials’ reform focus on ICE, immigration crackdowns would not be affected by DHS’s shutdown, given that it received $75 billion in funding from the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson secured Republican support for the package during a procedural vote, with Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky being the only GOP lawmaker to vote no, siding with all Democrats.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, along with other House Democratic leadership, voted against the measure despite the deal being negotiated and agreed upon by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House.

The spending package, which was expected to pass earlier in January, failed to reach beyond Congress following the death of Minneapolis activist and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Nurse, Alex Pretti, who was killed in a shooting involving federal immigration officers in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.

Additionally, Republicans faced some difficulty in voting for the bill’s passage as fellow GOP officials threatened to withhold their support unless the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act was attached to the measure. The SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.