U.S. Congressional Update

At the end of last week, it appeared that Congress was on track to pass all 12 fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills – which provide funding for federal government agencies and programs — prior to the January 30 expiration of the latest continuing resolution.   

This defied all expectations – most observers believed that the two parties would be unable to bridge their major differences on funding levels and policy issues on at least some of these 12 measures, particularly given the intense partisan acrimony in Congress.   

Following last year’s record breaking 43-day government shutdown, House and Senate appropriators from both parties sat down together, rolled up their sleeves, and worked to see if they could find common ground. To their credit, both sides were willing to make tough compromises to reach a deal. Republicans essentially ignored the President’s unrealistic budget request and jettisoned a huge number of controversial policy riders pushed by Republicans in the House. For their part, Democrats accepted funding levels for many programs that were lower than they desired.  In other words, neither side got everything that they wanted.  This is the way the system is supposed to work. 

As a result of those efforts, 3 of the 12 bills were passed and signed into law in November 2025, followed by an additional 3 earlier this month.  That left a package of 6 bills, which the House passed last week.  House Democrats demanded – and received – a separate vote on the bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security, which includes US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).   The vast majority of Democrats voted no on the DHS bill to express their deep concerns about the ICE tactics, including the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis on January 7, but there were enough Republican votes to pass the measure along with the other 5 bills in the package. 

When that appropriations package passed the House on January 22 with strong bipartisan support – the final vote was 341-88 – everyone assumed that the Senate would follow suit this week and send it to the President for his signature before January 30, when stopgap funding for the agencies and programs covered by those 6 bills would run out.  There appeared to be no need for another continuing resolution and no chance of another government shutdown.  The House went on recess this week.  Everything seemed set.  But then federal agents killed another innocent American citizen in Minneapolis and all hell broke loose. 

Following the appalling shooting death of Alex Pretti, a Veterans Administration nurse exercising his constitutional rights, Senate Democrats made clear they would not support the DHS funding bill withoutsignificant new limits on ICE activities – including mandatory body cameras, an independent investigation into the Minneapolis shootings, and bans on face masks, so-called administrative warrants that do not require the approval of a judge, and racial profiling.  However, as of today, Senate Republicans have refused a request by Democrats to split off the DHS bill and allow the Senate to move forward with a package including the other 5 bills.  And Democrats have rejected suggestions by Senate Republicans that the President could make some changes to ICE procedures by executive order or that the changes could be included in a subsequent piece of legislation. 

If Senate Democrats follow through with their threat to oppose the DHS bill – and thus the larger package in which it is contained – then it appears likely we are headed for another government shutdown for the agencies and programs covered in the 6-bill package.  As the public outcry over Pretti’s killing intensifies, it is possible that Senate Republicans will ultimately agree to impose some limitations on ICE or split off the DHS bill from the larger package, but in either case, the House would then need to vote on the amended legislation.  It is not clear that House Republicans would agree to ICE reforms, and in any case, as noted above, that body is not in session this week.  

A week ago, nobody would have predicted where we are today, and in the coming days we will probably experience even more twists and turns.  Stay tuned.