On April 30, 2026, the House voted 215-211 along party lines to adopt the Senate-passed budget resolution that unlocks reconciliation 2.0. The resolution directs authorizing committees to write legislation by May 15 steering roughly $70 billion to ICE and Customs and Border Protection — funding agencies for an estimated 3.5 years. Reconciliation allows the Senate to clear the eventual bill with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes that traditional appropriations require, giving Republicans a path around Democratic opposition or any negotiated reforms.
Combined with the prior 2025 reconciliation package — which already funded ICE alone at $75 billion — the cumulative immigration-enforcement allocation across the two bills approaches $170 billion. ICE's annualized budget at this level exceeds the entire defense budgets of Canada, Australia, and Spain combined. The bill includes no reforms or accountability provisions despite a documented 20-year high in ICE custody deaths, multiple wrongful detentions of U.S. citizens, on-camera shootings of unarmed civilians by ICE agents, and judicial findings that DHS leadership coerced Apple and Facebook to remove ICE-tracking apps in violation of the First Amendment.
The vote came at the end of a 75-day partial DHS shutdown that began February 14, 2026 — now the longest agency funding lapse in U.S. history, surpassing the prior 43-day full government shutdown. White House messaging warned that DHS money would 'soon run out.'
Democratic reaction was uniform. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA): 'Republicans just paved the way to hand ICE and CBP another $70 billion without any reforms or accountability.' Rep. John Larson (D-CT) said the agencies 'don't need more funding — they need to be disbanded,' citing instances of agents 'executing citizens and using excessive force.' Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), who voted no: the bill is a '$70 billion slush fund for ICE.' The House Budget Committee Democrats published a fact sheet titled 'The Republican 2026 Budget Resolution Unlocks Reconciliation 2.0: The Sequel Isn't Any Better.'
The context is the simultaneous shrinking of food assistance. Republicans have advanced legislation cutting WIC (Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program). SNAP participation dropped by more than 3 million people between July 2025 and January 2026 — the steepest decline in decades. The same Congress now expanding ICE without oversight is contracting food aid for working families.