Congress rolls out $1.2 trillion spending deal to avert shutdown as immigration fight looms

Congressional leaders on Monday unveiled a roughly $1.2 trillion bipartisan spending package that would fund most of the federal government through September and head off another shutdown, even as lawmakers remain sharply divided over how to police the nation’s immigration system.

What’s in the deal

Released Jan. 20, the agreement combines three major appropriations bills—Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development—into a single “minibus.” A separate Homeland Security bill, negotiated alongside the package but scheduled for its own vote, would set funding for immigration enforcement agencies that have become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s second term.

Together with spending measures Congress has already passed for other parts of the government, the new package would complete all 12 regular appropriations bills for fiscal 2026 if it clears both chambers and is signed into law. Current stopgap funding for many agencies expires Jan. 30, just months after a 43-day shutdown that was the longest in U.S. history.

“We continue Congress’ forceful rejection of extreme cuts to federal programs proposed by the Trump administration,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement backing the deal. “Where the White House attempted to eliminate entire programs, we chose to increase their funding.”

Timeline and shutdown stakes

The framework has the support of senior appropriators from both parties and chambers. The House is expected to vote on the three-bill package later this week, with a separate vote on the Homeland Security measure. The Senate is poised to take up the legislation next week, likely just before the Jan. 30 deadline.

If Congress fails to act in time, funding would lapse for agencies covered by temporary spending extensions, triggering at least a partial shutdown and reviving the kind of disruption that closed many government operations from late September until mid-November last year.

The November deal that ended that 43-day standoff, signed by Trump on Nov. 12, 2025, funded the Agriculture, Legislative Branch and Military Construction–Veterans Affairs bills for the entire fiscal year. It extended authority for all other agencies only through Jan. 30, buying lawmakers time but leaving another cliff on the calendar.

Since then, appropriators have moved the remaining bills in a series of smaller packages rather than a single omnibus. Earlier this month, Congress cleared bipartisan measures funding areas such as Commerce, Justice and Science; Energy and Water; Interior and Environment; and financial services and foreign operations. The newly released minibus and Homeland Security bill are intended to close the books on the 2026 budget cycle.

Compromise with — and pushback against — Trump’s budget priorities

The spending agreement reflects a compromise between Trump’s stated priorities and what lawmakers in both parties were willing to accept.

In his fiscal 2026 budget blueprint, Trump called for deep reductions in domestic agencies, including education, public health and housing programs, and pledged to “defund” diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and other efforts his administration has labeled “woke.” He sought major increases for border wall construction, immigration detention and enforcement by the Department of Homeland Security.

Appropriators pushed back on many of those cuts.

Housing, education and health

Under the deal, the Department of Housing and Urban Development would receive about $84 billion, an increase of more than $7 billion compared with current funding, according to committee summaries and outside budget analyses. That includes higher spending on housing choice vouchers to renew assistance for millions of low-income renters and expanded tenant protection vouchers to prevent displacement, as well as more money for homeless assistance grants.

DeLauro said those housing investments would “prevent more than four million households from being pushed out onto the street.”

The Education Department would see a modest boost to roughly $79 billion, reversing proposed cuts from the White House. The Labor Department’s budget would rise slightly, to about $13.7 billion.

Health and Human Services would receive nearly $117 billion in discretionary funding, up by roughly $200 million. The package includes additional money for the National Institutes of Health, with targeted increases for research into cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other conditions, as well as a bipartisan health package to extend certain public health programs, bolster community health centers and tighten rules for pharmacy benefit managers.

Defense and infrastructure

Defense spending would climb as well, with funding for a military pay raise and what lawmakers describe as investments to strengthen readiness and modernize capabilities. Detailed figures were not immediately available in public summaries.

On infrastructure, the Transportation-HUD section includes what Democrats call “robust” spending on transportation networks, including aviation safety and surface transportation. DeLauro said the bill would “make our skies safer and our streets smoother.”

House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, praised the broader appropriations process this year as “restoring regular order,” pointing to the use of separate bills and bipartisan negotiations rather than a single, last-minute omnibus measure.

Homeland Security bill: ICE oversight at the center of the fight

The most contentious piece of the funding puzzle is the Homeland Security bill, which sets levels for agencies including Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE would receive about $10 billion under the agreement, with funding for Enforcement and Removal Operations cut by around $115 million compared with current levels, according to people familiar with the negotiations. The bill designates $20 million for ICE to deploy body cameras for agents and another $20 million for inspections and oversight of detention facilities. It also places new limits on the department’s ability to shift money between accounts without congressional approval.

Those accountability provisions come amid heightened scrutiny of ICE’s tactics, especially after a fatal shooting by an ICE officer of a woman in Minneapolis last year and allegations of inappropriate force and discriminatory enforcement. A recent federal court ruling that allowed DHS to require a week’s notice before lawmakers tour immigration detention facilities has further angered some Democrats, who say it hampers oversight.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said this month that the Minneapolis killing showed “there are common-sense measures that need to be put in place” to hold ICE accountable, signaling that many Democrats may oppose the Homeland Security bill unless stronger conditions are added.

Despite the outcry, top Democratic appropriators argue that rejecting the DHS measure or forcing another shutdown would not rein in ICE in practice.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the idea that a shutdown would curb what critics describe as lawlessness at ICE “is not rooted in reality.” Because of a separate tax and spending law Republicans pushed through last year, ICE has access to roughly $75 billion in mandatory funding that allows it to continue operating even if regular appropriations lapse.

Under a shutdown or another short-term continuing resolution, Murray said, the administration could keep doing “everything they are already doing — but without any of the critical guardrails and constraints imposed by a full-year funding bill.”

That leaves Democrats facing a difficult choice: oppose funding for an agency many of their voters see as abusive, or support a bill that maintains ICE’s core operations in exchange for incremental oversight measures.

For Republicans, particularly in the narrowly controlled House, the political math is also tight. With a 218–213 majority, GOP leaders may need near-unanimous support from their conference to pass the Homeland Security bill if most Democrats vote no.

What it means beyond the deadline

Beyond the immediate fight, the outcome of this funding round will shape how federal agencies operate for the rest of the fiscal year—and how millions of Americans experience the government in their daily lives.

Full-year appropriations would give federal workers and contractors some relief from the uncertainty that has dogged them since last fall, allowing agencies such as HHS, Education and HUD to plan grants and projects instead of operating under temporary extensions. Housing authorities and nonprofit providers would gain a clearer picture of resources to address rising rents and homelessness. Community health centers, school districts and research institutions would be able to move forward with fewer fears of sudden funding gaps.

At the same time, immigrant communities and civil rights groups will be watching closely to see how new ICE funding and oversight provisions are implemented, and whether body cameras and inspection funds change frontline behavior.

The votes expected over the next several days will determine more than whether Washington avoids another partial shutdown. They will show how far Congress is willing to go, in an election season and under a president pressing for sharp ideological shifts, to assert control over the federal purse and strike cross-party deals that keep the basic machinery of government running.