By Ginika Igboke
The House Rules Committee on Monday advanced a Senate-passed bill to fund the federal government as several agencies remain in a partial shutdown.
The measure moved forward on a party-line 8–4 vote after a committee hearing that lasted more than four hours. Its approval sends the bill one step closer to a final House vote, expected Tuesday.
The legislation would fully fund five executive departments and extend funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through Feb. 13. Democratic leaders have signaled they will not broadly support the bill, meaning House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will likely need to rely mainly on his narrow Republican majority to secure passage.
In a full House vote, Johnson can afford to lose only one Republican if the vote falls strictly along party lines, though some Democrats are expected to back the measure.
Still, resistance remains within the Republican conference. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a longtime fiscal hawk and critic of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which operates under DHS, opposed the previous funding measure because it included money for CISA and could again vote no.
Some Republicans have also pressed leadership to attach the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act to the funding package. House leaders have rejected that approach, arguing it would doom the bill in the Senate. The version reported out of the Rules Committee does not include the SAVE Act.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) downplayed the concerns, telling reporters, “They all come down to the wire, and then we get our business done.”
During the hearing, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) urged support for the bill. “The issues before us remain critically important,” he said. “The path here may have been different than expected, but our responsibility is the same—to fund the government and keep it working for the nation.”
The package would provide full-year funding for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development.
Democrats, however, are demanding reforms to DHS and its immigration enforcement agencies before supporting full-year DHS funding. Many House Democrats, including party leaders, oppose extending DHS funding without those changes.
Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) voiced strong opposition, criticizing immigration enforcement practices. “I will not vote for business as usual while masked agents break into people’s homes without a judicial warrant, in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” he said, citing the use of administrative warrants rather than court-issued judicial warrants.
One Democrat, however, said she would break with her party. House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) announced she would support the measure, pointing to the five full-year funding bills included in the package that have Democratic backing.
Without the DHS funding extension, DeLauro said, Democrats “won’t be able to bring the kinds of pressure” needed to secure reforms in a future full-year DHS funding bill.
As the House deliberates, affected agencies began implementing shutdown procedures on Monday, sending nonessential employees home. Those workers will remain furloughed until funding is restored.
Speaker Johnson said he is confident the shutdown will end following Tuesday’s vote, even without Democratic leadership support. “We have a logistical challenge of getting everyone in town, and because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we’ve got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own,” Johnson said in a television interview.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) reiterated calls for sweeping DHS reforms, saying immigration enforcement agents should not operate with masks and must obtain judicial warrants before entering homes.
Despite signs of resistance within his caucus, Johnson has maintained a confident posture, saying former President Donald Trump—who continues to wield influence among House Republicans—is backing the approach. Johnson said Trump has urged Congress to pass the bipartisan compromise and lower tensions around federal immigration issues.
The Senate approved the funding package Friday evening by a 71–29 vote after hours of negotiations involving both parties. The vote followed an agreement announced by Democrats and the White House, reached amid renewed debate over DHS practices after a fatal shooting in Minnesota involving immigration enforcement officers.
Trump has publicly called on lawmakers to pass the deal, urging both Republicans and Democrats to support the compromise to keep most of the government funded while extending DHS operations temporarily.