[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 57 (Thursday, March 26, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H2731-H2750]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PAY OUR HOMELAND DEFENDERS ACT
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1131, I call up
the bill (H.R. 8029) making appropriations for the Department of
Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and
for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the
House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1131, the bill
is considered read.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 8029
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Pay Our Homeland Defenders
Act''.
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
Sec. 3. References.
Sec. 4. Explanatory statement.
Sec. 5. Statement of appropriations.
DIVISION A--DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS
DIVISION B--FURTHER ADDITIONAL CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026
SEC. 3. REFERENCES.
Except as expressly provided otherwise, any reference to
``this Act'' contained in division A of this Act shall be
treated as referring only to the provisions of that division.
SEC. 4. EXPLANATORY STATEMENT.
The explanatory statement regarding H.R. 7147 of the 119th
Congress, printed in the House of Representatives section of
the Congressional Record on January 22, 2026, and submitted
by the chair of the Committee on Appropriations of the House
of Representatives, shall have the same effect with respect
to the allocation of funds and implementation of this Act as
if it were a joint explanatory statement of a committee of
conference.
SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF APPROPRIATIONS.
The following sums in this Act are appropriated, out of any
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2026.
DIVISION A--DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS
TITLE I
DEPARTMENTAL MANAGEMENT, INTELLIGENCE, SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, AND
OVERSIGHT
Office of the Secretary and Executive Management
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Office of the Secretary and
for executive management for operations and support,
$316,295,000, which shall be for the purposes and in the
amounts specified in the ``Final Bill'' column for Office of
the Secretary and Executive Management, Operations and
Support, in the ``Department of Homeland Security
Appropriations Act, 2026'' table in the explanatory statement
described in section 4 (in the matter preceding division A of
this consolidated Act), of which $14,050,000 of amounts made
available for Management and Oversight, Office of Health
Security and $8,000,000 of amounts made available for Office
of Strategy, Policy, and Plans shall remain available until
September 30, 2027: Provided, That $5,000,000 shall be
withheld from obligation until the Secretary submits to the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate responses to all questions for the record for
each hearing on the fiscal year 2027 budget submission for
the Department of Homeland Security held by such Committees
prior to July 1: Provided further, That not to exceed
$15,000 shall be for official reception and representation
expenses.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of the Office of the Secretary and
for executive management for procurement, construction, and
improvements, $8,911,000, to remain available until September
30, 2028.
Management Directorate
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Management Directorate for
operations and support, including vehicle fleet
modernization, $1,690,380,000, which shall be for the
purposes and in the amounts specified in the ``Final Bill''
column for Management Directorate, Operations and Support, in
the ``Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act,
2026'' table in the explanatory statement described in
section 4 (in the matter preceding division A of this
consolidated Act): Provided, That not to exceed $2,000 shall
be for official reception and representation expenses.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of the Management Directorate for
procurement, construction, and improvements, $58,106,000, to
remain available until September 30, 2028.
federal protective service
The revenues and collections of security fees credited to
this account shall be available until expended for necessary
expenses related to the protection of federally owned and
leased buildings and for the operations of the Federal
Protective Service.
Intelligence, Analysis, and Situational Awareness
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Office of Intelligence and
Analysis and the Office of Homeland Security Situational
Awareness for operations and support, $340,819,000, of which
$121,274,000 shall remain available until September 30, 2027:
Provided, That not to exceed $3,825 shall for be official
reception and representation expenses and not to exceed
$2,000,000 is available for facility needs associated with
secure space at fusion centers, including improvements to
buildings.
Office of Inspector General
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General
for operations and support, $257,599,000, of which
$20,000,000 shall be for additional inspections and oversight
of detention facilities and shall remain available until
September 30, 2027, and of which $12,814,000 shall be for
oversight of the execution of funds provided in Public Law
119-21: Provided, That not to exceed $300,000 may be used
for certain confidential operational expenses, including the
payment of informants, to be expended at the direction of the
Inspector General.
Administrative Provisions
Sec. 101. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall
submit a report not later than October 15, 2026, to the
Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security
listing all grants and contracts awarded by any means other
than full and open competition during fiscal years 2025 or
2026.
(b) The Inspector General shall review the report required
by subsection (a) to assess departmental compliance with
applicable laws and regulations and report the results of
that review to the Committees on Appropriations of the House
of Representatives and the Senate not later than February 15,
2027.
Sec. 102. (a) Not later than 30 days after the last day of
each month, the Chief Financial Officer of the Department of
Homeland Security shall submit to the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate
a monthly budget and staffing report that includes total
obligations of the Department for that month and for the
fiscal year at the appropriation and program, project, and
activity levels, by the source year of the appropriation.
(b) The initial staffing report submitted pursuant to
subsection (a) shall be the baseline for which the Department
of Homeland Security may increase or decrease staffing levels
for any program, project, or activity pursuant to section
503(a)(4) of this Act.
Sec. 103. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall notify
the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Senate of any proposed transfers of
funds available under section 9705(g)(4)(B) of title 31,
United States Code, from the Department of the Treasury
Forfeiture Fund to any agency within the Department of
Homeland Security.
(b) None of the funds identified for such a transfer may be
obligated until the Committees on Appropriations of the House
of Representatives and the Senate are notified of the
proposed transfer.
Sec. 104. All official costs associated with the use of
Government aircraft by Department of Homeland Security
personnel to support official travel of the Secretary and the
Deputy Secretary shall be paid from amounts made available
for the Office of the Secretary.
Sec. 105. (a) The Under Secretary for Management shall
brief the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Senate not later than 45 days after
the end of each fiscal quarter on all Level 1 and Level 2
acquisition programs on the Master Acquisition Oversight List
between
[[Page H2732]]
Acquisition Decision Event and Full Operational Capability,
including programs that have been removed from such list
during the preceding quarter.
(b) For each such program, the briefing described in
subsection (a) shall include--
(1) a description of the purpose of the program, including
the capabilities being acquired and the component(s)
sponsoring the acquisition;
(2) the total number of units, as appropriate, to be
acquired annually until procurement is complete under the
current acquisition program baseline;
(3) the Acquisition Review Board status, including--
(A) the current acquisition phase by increment, as
applicable;
(B) the date of the most recent review; and
(C) whether the program has been paused or is in breach
status;
(4) a comparison between the initial Department-approved
acquisition program baseline cost, schedule, and performance
thresholds and objectives and the program's current such
thresholds and objectives, if applicable;
(5) the lifecycle cost estimate, adjusted for comparison to
the Future Years Homeland Security Program, including--
(A) the confidence level for the estimate;
(B) the fiscal years included in the estimate;
(C) a breakout of the estimate for the prior five years,
the current year, and the budget year;
(D) a breakout of the estimate by appropriation account or
other funding source; and
(E) a description of and rationale for any changes to the
estimate as compared to the previously approved baseline, as
applicable, and during the prior fiscal year;
(6) a summary of the findings of any independent
verification and validation of the items to be acquired or an
explanation for why no such verification and validation has
been performed;
(7) a table displaying the obligation of all program funds
by prior fiscal year, the estimated obligation of funds for
the current fiscal year, and an estimate for the planned
carryover of funds into the subsequent fiscal year;
(8) a listing of prime contractors and major
subcontractors; and
(9) narrative descriptions of risks to cost, schedule, or
performance that could result in a program breach if not
successfully mitigated.
(c) The Under Secretary for Management shall submit each
approved Acquisition Decision Memorandum for programs
described in this section to the Committees on Appropriations
of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than
five business days after the date of approval of such
memorandum by the Under Secretary for Management or the
designee of the Under Secretary for Management.
Sec. 106. (a) None of the funds made available to the
Department of Homeland Security in this Act or prior
appropriations Acts may be obligated for any new pilot or
demonstration unless the component or office carrying out
such pilot or demonstration has documented the information
described in subsection (c).
(b) Prior to the obligation of any such funds made
available for ``Operations and Support'' for a new pilot or
demonstration, the Under Secretary for Management shall
provide a report to the Committees on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives and the Senate on the information
described in subsection (c).
(c) The information required under subsections (a) and (b)
for a pilot or demonstration shall include the following--
(1) documented objectives that are well-defined and
measurable;
(2) an assessment methodology that details--
(A) the type and source of assessment data;
(B) the methods for, and frequency of, collecting such
data; and
(C) how such data will be analyzed; and
(3) an implementation plan, including milestones, cost
estimates, and implementation schedules, including a
projected end date.
(d) Not later than 90 days after the date of completion of
a pilot or demonstration described in subsection (e), the
Under Secretary for Management shall provide a report to the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate detailing lessons learned, actual costs, any
planned expansion or continuation of the pilot or
demonstration, and any planned transition of such pilot or
demonstration into an enduring program or operation.
(e) For the purposes of this section, a pilot or
demonstration program is a study, demonstration, experimental
program, or trial that--
(1) is a small-scale, short-term experiment conducted in
order to evaluate feasibility, duration, costs, or adverse
events, and improve upon the design of an effort prior to
implementation of a larger scale effort; and
(2) uses more than 10 full-time equivalents or obligates,
or proposes to obligate, $5,000,000 or more, but does not
include congressionally directed programs or enhancements and
does not include programs that were in operation as of the
date of the enactment of this Act.
(f) For the purposes of this section, a pilot or
demonstration does not include any testing, evaluation, or
initial deployment phase executed under a procurement
contract for the acquisition of information technology
services or systems, or any pilot or demonstration carried
out by a non-Federal recipient under any financial assistance
agreement funded by the Department.
Sec. 107. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise
made available by this Act may be used by the Office of
Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland
Security to conduct a covered activity (as defined by section
6303 of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2025 (division F of Public Law 118-159)).
(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting
or superseding the authority of any official within the
Department of Homeland Security to conduct legal, privacy,
civil rights, or civil liberties oversight of the
intelligence activities of the Office of Intelligence and
Analysis.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit,
or to limit the authority of, personnel of the Office of
Intelligence and Analysis of the Department of Homeland
Security from sharing intelligence information with, or
receiving information from--
(1) foreign, State, local, tribal, or territorial
governments (or any agency or subdivision thereof);
(2) the private sector; or
(3) other elements of the Federal Government, including the
components of the Department of Homeland Security.
Sec. 108. (a) The Inspector General shall report to the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate on a quarterly basis on oversight of the
funding provided to the Department in Public Law 119-21.
(b) The quarterly report required in subsection (a) shall
include--
(1) a review of the spend plans for every program, project,
or activity funded by the Department under Public Law 119-21,
including the current status of obligated funds compared to
spend plan projections; and
(2) a summary of the audits being conducted on the
Department's contracting, procurement, and acquisition
activities resulting from Public Law 119-21.
(c) Beginning one year after the date of enactment of this
Act, and annually thereafter, the Inspector General shall
submit a comprehensive report to the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate
on the audits, inspections, and evaluations conducted on
funds provided and activities undertaken in Public Law 119-21
and shall also provide recommendations in such report on ways
to improve effectiveness and efficiency and prevent waste,
fraud, and abuse of such programs and funds.
Sec. 109. (a) For an additional amount for ``Office of the
Secretary and Executive Management--Operations and Support--
Office of the Secretary'', $20,000,000, for the procurement,
deployment, and operations of body-worn cameras for agents
and officers performing enforcement activities under 8 U.S.C.
1101 et seq.
(b) Within 30 days of the date of enactment of this Act,
the Secretary shall provide the Committees on Appropriations
of the House of Representatives and the Senate a spend plan
for the execution of funding provided in subsection (a).
TITLE II
SECURITY, ENFORCEMENT, AND INVESTIGATIONS
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
operations and support
(including transfer of funds)
For necessary expenses of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection for operations and support, including the
transportation of unaccompanied alien minors; the provision
of air and marine support to Federal, State, local, and
international agencies in the enforcement or administration
of laws enforced by the Department of Homeland Security; at
the discretion of the Secretary of Homeland Security, the
provision of such support to Federal, State, and local
agencies in other law enforcement and emergency humanitarian
efforts; the purchase and lease of up to 7,500 (6,500 for
replacement only) police-type vehicles; the purchase,
maintenance, or operation of marine vessels, aircraft, and
unmanned aerial systems; and contracting with individuals for
personal services abroad; $17,727,974,000; of which
$3,274,000 shall be derived from the Harbor Maintenance Trust
Fund for administrative expenses related to the collection of
the Harbor Maintenance Fee pursuant to section 9505(c)(3) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 9505(c)(3)) and
notwithstanding section 1511(e)(1) of the Homeland Security
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 551(e)(1)); of which $550,000,000 shall
be available until September 30, 2027; and of which such sums
as become available in the Customs User Fee Account, except
sums subject to section 13031(f)(3) of the Consolidated
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C.
58c(f)(3)), shall be derived from that account: Provided,
That not to exceed $34,425 shall be for official reception
and representation expenses: Provided further, That not to
exceed $150,000 shall be available for payment for rental
space in connection with preclearance operations: Provided
further, That not to exceed $2,000,000 shall be for awards of
compensation to informants, to be accounted for solely under
the certificate of the Secretary of Homeland Security:
Provided further, That not to exceed $2,500,000 may be
transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the
maintenance and repair of roads on Native American
reservations used by the U.S. Border Patrol.
[[Page H2733]]
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection for procurement, construction, and improvements,
including procurement of marine vessels, aircraft, and
unmanned aerial systems, $222,886,000, which shall be for the
purposes and in the amounts specified in the ``Final Bill''
column for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Procurement,
Construction, and Improvements, in the ``Department of
Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026'' table in the
explanatory statement described in section 4 (in the matter
preceding division A of this consolidated Act), of which--
(1) amounts made available for Border Security Assets and
Infrastructure, Trade and Travel Assets and Infrastructure,
Integrated Operations Assets and Infrastructure, Mission
Support Assets and Infrastructure, and Radiological Detection
Systems shall remain available until September 30, 2028; and
(2) amounts made available for Construction and Facility
Improvements shall remain available until September 30, 2030.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
operations and support
For necessary expenses of U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement for operations and support, including the
purchase and lease of up to 3,790 (2,350 for replacement
only) police-type vehicles; overseas vetted units; and
maintenance, minor construction, and minor leasehold
improvements at owned and leased facilities; $10,036,362,000,
which shall be for the purposes and in the amounts specified
in the ``Final Bill'' column for U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, Operations and Support, in the ``Department of
Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026'' table in the
explanatory statement described in section 4 (in the matter
preceding division A of this consolidated Act), of which--
(1) of the amounts made available for Homeland Security
Investigations--
(A) not less than $6,000,000 shall remain available until
expended for efforts to enforce laws against forced child
labor;
(B) $46,696,000 shall remain available until September 30,
2027;
(C) not less than $3,000,000 is for paid apprenticeships
for participants in the Human Exploitation Rescue Operative
Child-Rescue Corps;
(D) not less than $15,000,000 shall be available for
investigation of intellectual property rights violations,
including operation of the National Intellectual Property
Rights Coordination Center;
(E) $15,000,000 shall be available until expended for
conducting special operations under section 3131 of the
Customs Enforcement Act of 1986 (19 U.S.C. 2801); and
(F) not to exceed $4,000,000 shall be for awards of
compensation to informants, to be accounted for solely under
the certificate of the Secretary of Homeland Security;
(2) of the amounts made available for Enforcement and
Removal Operations, not to exceed $11,216,000 shall be
available to fund or reimburse other Federal agencies for the
costs associated with the care, maintenance, and repatriation
of smuggled aliens unlawfully present in the United States;
and
(3) of the amounts made available under this heading,
$11,475 shall be for official reception and representation
expenses.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement for procurement, construction, and improvements,
$5,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2028.
Transportation Security Administration
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Transportation Security
Administration for operations and support, $10,635,434,000,
of which $300,000,000 shall remain available until September
30, 2027: Provided, That not to exceed $7,650 shall be for
official reception and representation expenses: Provided
further, That security service fees authorized under section
44940 of title 49, United States Code, shall be credited to
this appropriation as offsetting collections and shall be
available only for aviation security: Provided further, That
the sum appropriated under this heading from the general fund
shall be reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis as such
offsetting collections are received during fiscal year 2026
so as to result in a final fiscal year appropriation from the
general fund estimated at not more than $7,605,434,000.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of the Transportation Security
Administration for procurement, construction, and
improvements, $330,230,000, to remain available until
September 30, 2028.
research and development
For necessary expenses of the Transportation Security
Administration for research and development, $24,000,000, to
remain available until September 30, 2027.
Coast Guard
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Coast Guard for operations
and support including the Coast Guard Reserve; purchase or
lease of not to exceed 30 passenger motor vehicles, which
shall be for replacement only; purchase or lease of small
boats for contingent and emergent requirements (at a unit
cost of not more than $700,000) and repairs and service-life
replacements, not to exceed a total of $31,000,000; purchase,
lease, or improvements of boats necessary for overseas
deployments and activities; payments pursuant to section 156
of Public Law 97-377 (42 U.S.C. 402 note; 96 Stat. 1920); and
recreation and welfare; $11,272,401,000, of which
$530,000,000 shall be for defense-related activities; of
which $24,500,000 shall be derived from the Oil Spill
Liability Trust Fund to carry out the purposes of section
1012(a)(5) of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C.
2712(a)(5)); of which $20,000,000 shall remain available
until September 30, 2028; of which $25,335,000 shall remain
available until September 30, 2030, for environmental
compliance and restoration; and of which $400,000,000 shall
remain available until September 30, 2027, which shall only
be available for depot level maintenance: Provided, That not
to exceed $23,000 shall be for official reception and
representation expenses.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of the Coast Guard for procurement,
construction, and improvements, including aids to navigation,
shore facilities (including facilities at Department of
Defense installations used by the Coast Guard), and vessels
and aircraft, including equipment related thereto,
$991,872,000, to remain available until September 30, 2030;
of which $20,000,000 shall be derived from the Oil Spill
Liability Trust Fund to carry out the purposes of section
1012(a)(5) of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C.
2712(a)(5)).
research and development
For necessary expenses of the Coast Guard for research and
development; and for maintenance, rehabilitation, lease, and
operation of facilities and equipment; $6,763,000, to remain
available until September 30, 2028, of which $500,000 shall
be derived from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to carry
out the purposes of section 1012(a)(5) of the Oil Pollution
Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2712(a)(5)): Provided, That there may
be credited to and used for the purposes of this
appropriation funds received from State and local
governments, other public authorities, private sources, and
foreign countries for expenses incurred for research,
development, testing, and evaluation.
retired pay
For retired pay, including the payment of obligations
otherwise chargeable to lapsed appropriations for this
purpose, payments under the Retired Serviceman's Family
Protection and Survivor Benefits Plans, payment for career
status bonuses, payment of continuation pay under section 356
of title 37, United States Code, concurrent receipts, combat-
related special compensation, and payments for medical care
of retired personnel and their dependents under chapter 55 of
title 10, United States Code, $1,249,000,000, to remain
available until expended.
United States Secret Service
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the United States Secret Service
for operations and support, including purchase of not to
exceed 652 vehicles for police-type use; hire of passenger
motor vehicles; purchase of motorcycles made in the United
States; hire of aircraft; rental of buildings in the District
of Columbia; fencing, lighting, guard booths, and other
facilities on private or other property not in Government
ownership or control, as may be necessary to perform
protective functions; conduct of and participation in
firearms matches; presentation of awards; conduct of
behavioral research in support of protective intelligence and
operations; payment in advance for commercial accommodations
as may be necessary to perform protective functions; and
payment, without regard to section 5702 of title 5, United
States Code, of subsistence expenses of employees who are on
protective missions, whether at or away from their duty
stations; $3,128,304,000, of which $96,299,000 shall remain
available until September 30, 2027, and of which $20,000,000
shall remain available until September 30, 2028; and of which
$6,000,000 shall be for a grant for activities related to
investigations of missing and exploited children; and of
which up to $33,000,000 may be for calendar year 2025 premium
pay in excess of the annual equivalent of the limitation on
the rate of pay contained in section 5547(a) of title 5,
United States Code, pursuant to section 2 of the Overtime Pay
for Protective Services Act of 2016 (5 U.S.C. 5547 note), as
last amended by Public Law 118-38: Provided, That not to
exceed $19,125 shall be for official reception and
representation expenses: Provided further, That not to
exceed $100,000 shall be to provide technical assistance and
equipment to foreign law enforcement organizations in
criminal investigations within the jurisdiction of the United
States Secret Service.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of the United States Secret Service
for procurement, construction, and improvements,
$118,517,000, of which $96,167,000 shall remain available
until September 30, 2028, and of which $22,350,000 shall
remain available until September 30, 2030.
research and development
For necessary expenses of the United States Secret Service
for research and development, $3,250,000, to remain available
until September 30, 2027.
[[Page H2734]]
Administrative Provisions
Sec. 201. Section 201 of the Department of Homeland
Security Appropriations Act, 2018 (division F of Public Law
115-141), related to overtime compensation limitations, shall
apply with respect to funds made available in this Act in the
same manner as such section applied to funds made available
in that Act, except that ``fiscal year 2026'' shall be
substituted for ``fiscal year 2018''.
Sec. 202. Funding made available under the headings ``U.S.
Customs and Border Protection--Operations and Support'' and
``U.S. Customs and Border Protection--Procurement,
Construction, and Improvements'' shall be available for
customs expenses when necessary to maintain operations and
prevent adverse personnel actions in Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands, in addition to funding provided by sections
740 and 1406i of title 48, United States Code.
Sec. 203. As authorized by section 601(b) of the United
States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act
(Public Law 112-42), fees collected from passengers arriving
from Canada, Mexico, or an adjacent island pursuant to
section 13031(a)(5) of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 58c(a)(5)) shall be
available until expended.
Sec. 204. (a) For an additional amount for ``U.S. Customs
and Border Protection--Operations and Support'', $31,000,000,
to remain available until expended, to be reduced by amounts
collected and credited to this appropriation in fiscal year
2026 from amounts authorized to be collected by section
286(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1356(i)), section 10412 of the Farm Security and Rural
Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8311), and section 817 of
the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015
(Public Law 114-125), or other such authorizing language.
(b) To the extent that amounts realized from such
collections exceed $31,000,000, those amounts in excess of
$31,000,000 shall be credited to this appropriation, to
remain available until expended.
Sec. 205. None of the funds made available in this Act for
U.S. Customs and Border Protection may be used to prevent an
individual not in the business of importing a prescription
drug (within the meaning of section 801(g) of the Federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) from importing a prescription
drug from Canada that complies with the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act: Provided, That this section shall apply
only to individuals transporting on their person a personal-
use quantity of the prescription drug, not to exceed a 90-day
supply: Provided further, That the prescription drug may not
be--
(1) a controlled substance, as defined in section 102 of
the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802); or
(2) a biological product, as defined in section 351 of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262).
Sec. 206. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
none of the funds provided in this or any other Act shall be
used to approve a waiver of the navigation and vessel-
inspection laws pursuant to section 501(b) of title 46,
United States Code, for the transportation of crude oil
distributed from and to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until
the Secretary of Homeland Security, after consultation with
the Secretaries of the Departments of Energy and
Transportation and representatives from the United States
flag maritime industry, takes adequate measures to ensure the
use of United States flag vessels.
(b) The Secretary shall notify the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Senate, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of
the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate within two business
days of any request for waivers of navigation and vessel-
inspection laws pursuant to section 501(b) of title 46,
United States Code, with respect to such transportation, and
the disposition of such requests.
Sec. 207. (a) Beginning on the date of enactment of this
Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall not--
(1) establish, collect, or otherwise impose any new border
crossing fee on individuals crossing the Southern border or
the Northern border at a land port of entry; or
(2) conduct any study relating to the imposition of a
border crossing fee.
(b) In this section, the term ``border crossing fee'' means
a fee that every pedestrian, cyclist, and driver and
passenger of a private motor vehicle is required to pay for
the privilege of crossing the Southern border or the Northern
border at a land port of entry.
Sec. 208. (a) Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and
Border Protection shall submit an expenditure plan for any
amounts made available for ``U.S. Customs and Border
Protection--Procurement, Construction, and Improvements'' in
this Act and prior Acts to the Committees on Appropriations
of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
(b) No such amounts provided in this Act may be obligated
prior to the submission of such plan.
Sec. 209. (a) Funds made available in this Act may be used
to alter operations within the National Targeting Center of
U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
(b) None of the funds provided by this Act, provided by
previous appropriations Acts that remain available for
obligation or expenditure in fiscal year 2026, or provided
from any accounts in the Treasury of the United States
derived by the collection of fees available to the components
funded by this Act, may be used to reduce anticipated or
planned vetting operations at existing locations unless
specifically authorized by a statute enacted after the date
of enactment of this Act.
Sec. 210. None of the funds made available for Border
Security Assets and Infrastructure under the heading ``U.S.
Customs and Border Protection--Procurement, Construction, and
Improvements'' in this Act or prior appropriations Acts shall
be used for the procurement or deployment of surveillance
systems that are not autonomous, as such term is defined in
section 90004 of Public Law 119-21.
Sec. 211. The Secretary shall ensure that the November 30,
2021, policy statement from U.S. Customs and Border
Protection titled ``Policy Statement and Required Actions
Regarding Pregnant, Postpartum, Nursing Individuals, and
Infants in Custody,'' or substantively similar standards of
treatment developed in consultation with maternal and
pediatric health providers and experts, are in effect and are
fully implemented to safeguard the health, safety, and rights
of pregnant women in U.S. Customs and Border Protection
custody.
Sec. 212. None of the funds provided under the heading
``U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement--Operations and
Support'' may be used to continue a delegation of law
enforcement authority authorized under section 287(g) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357(g)) if the
Department of Homeland Security Inspector General determines
that the terms of the agreement governing the delegation of
authority have been materially violated.
Sec. 213. (a) None of the funds provided under the heading
``U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement--Operations and
Support'' may be used to continue any contract for the
provision of detention services if the two most recent
overall performance evaluations received by the contracted
facility are less than ``adequate'' or the equivalent median
score in any subsequent performance evaluation system.
(b) The performance evaluations referenced in subsection
(a) shall be conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement Office of Professional Responsibility.
Sec. 214. Without regard to the limitation as to time and
condition of section 503(d) of this Act, the Secretary may
reprogram within and transfer funds to ``U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement--Operations and Support'' as necessary to
ensure the detention of aliens prioritized for removal.
Sec. 215. The reports required to be submitted under
section 216 of the Department of Homeland Security
Appropriations Act, 2021 (division F of Public Law 116-260)
shall continue to be submitted semimonthly and each matter
required to be included in such reports by such section 216
shall apply in the same manner and to the same extent during
the period described in such section 216.
Sec. 216. The terms and conditions of sections 216 and 217
of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act,
2020 (division D of Public Law 116-93) shall apply to this
Act.
Sec. 217. (a) Not later than 30 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement shall provide a briefing and submit an
initial, written obligation plan for funding provided under
the heading ``U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement'' in
this or any other Act, including prior Acts, to the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate, which shall--
(1) be delineated by month, level II program, project, and
activity, and pay and non-pay requirements;
(2) incorporate and delineate all funding sources available
to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to include
unobligated carryover balances and fees; and
(3) contain data-driven assumptions for major contract
costs, projected personnel levels, and operational and policy
considerations.
(b) The Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement shall provide monthly briefings and written
updates to the plan required in subsection (a), which shall
include, at a minimum, the following information as of the
conclusion of the preceding month--
(1) actual obligations and expenditures, including prior
year;
(2) carryover from prior year unobligated balances;
(3) resource projections for the remainder of the fiscal
year;
(4) payroll projections for the remainder of the fiscal
year, based on forecasted gains and losses;
(5) identification of any contracts with a period of
performance extending beyond the current fiscal year;
(6) obligations and expenditures for specific domestic and
international investigative mission areas, including
countering fentanyl and child exploitation;
(7) the rate of operations for the Custody Operations,
Alternatives to Detention, and Transportation and Removal
Operations programs, projects, and activities, which shall
include a projection of the exhaustion of funds based on
current resources and operational levels; and
(8) the initial obligation plan as described in subsection
(a), displayed unchanged for the purposes of comparison.
[[Page H2735]]
(c) The monthly updates required by subsection (b) shall be
submitted no later than 15 days after the beginning of the
month following the submission of the initial obligation plan
as described in subsection (a).
(d)(1) For an additional amount for ``U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement--Operations and Support--Executive
Leadership and Oversight'', $100,000, which shall be made
available for Mission Support--Executive Leadership and
Oversight on the sixteenth day of each month, in a total
amount for the fiscal year not to exceed $700,000.
(2) Beginning 30 days after the date of enactment of this
Act, amounts in paragraph (1) shall only be made available
for obligation in a given month if the reporting requirements
set forth in subsections (a) and (b) of this section are
provided to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Senate within the timeframe required
pursuant to subsections (a) and (c), respectively.
Sec. 218. (a) Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement shall submit to the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate
a written execution plan for the funding provided by Public
Law 119-21 for detention facilities, to include the following
elements:
(1) the location, number of beds, and estimated cost per
bed of each detention facility utilized by or on behalf of
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the preceding
quarter;
(2) the location, number of beds, and estimated cost per
bed of each detention facility projected to be utilized by or
on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the
subsequent quarter;
(3) the total number of beds projected to be utilized by or
on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement through
the end of the fiscal year;
(4) any associated increase or decrease in transportation
and removal operations cost estimates associated with
paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of this section, to include
removal flights; and
(5) a general overview of the desired geographic end-state
for detention facilities, any new operational models or
strategies related to detention capacity that will be
utilized, and a comparison of current detention capacity
against projected end-state capacity.
(b)(1) Subsequent to the submission of the written
execution plan provided in subsection (a), the Director of
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shall provide to the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate a briefing and written update to such
execution plan not later than 30 days following the end of
each fiscal quarter; and
(2) each briefing and written update described in paragraph
(1) shall include a review of the execution of funds for the
most recently completed quarter, a comparison of the actual
execution of funds in relation to the planned execution of
funds, and any remedial actions taken in the case of a
failure to execute funding in accordance with the initial
execution plan as described in subsection (a); and
(c) The initial execution plan described in subsection (a)
shall be displayed unchanged for purposes of comparison in
the briefings and written updates described in subsection
(b).
Sec. 219. (a) None of the funds made available by this Act
or any other Act may be used to reduce the presence of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement attaches or liaisons at
international U.S. embassies or consulates for the purposes
of international investigations or partnerships with foreign
law enforcement.
(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply to a reduction of
presence in a specific country if--
(1) the Secretary of Homeland Security, in collaboration
with the Secretary of State, provides a written explanation
of how maintaining a collaborative investigatory presence in
a specific country undermines U.S. foreign policy interests
in that country to the Committees on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives and the Senate; or
(2) a country requests the cessation of collaborative law
enforcement activities performed by the attache or liaison
stationed at the embassy or consulate to their country.
Sec. 220. (a) Members of the United States House of
Representatives and the United States Senate, including the
leadership; the heads of Federal agencies and commissions,
including the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretaries,
and Assistant Secretaries of the Department of Homeland
Security; the United States Attorney General, Deputy Attorney
General, Assistant Attorneys General, and the United States
Attorneys; and senior members of the Executive Office of the
President, including the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget, shall not be exempt from Federal passenger and
baggage screening.
(b) None of the funds made available in this or any other
Act, including prior Acts, or provided from any accounts in
the Treasury of the United States derived by the collection
of fees available to the components funded by this Act may be
used to carry out legislation altering the applicability of
the screening requirements outlined in subsection (a).
Sec. 221. Notwithstanding section 44923 of title 49,
United States Code, for fiscal year 2026, any funds in the
Aviation Security Capital Fund established by section
44923(h) of title 49, United States Code, may be used for the
procurement and installation of explosives detection systems
or for the issuance of other transaction agreements for the
purpose of funding projects described in section 44923(a) of
such title.
Sec. 222. Not later than 45 days after the submission of
the President's budget proposal, the Administrator of the
Transportation Security Administration shall submit to the
Committees on Appropriations and Homeland Security of the
House of Representatives and the Committees on Appropriations
and Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a
single report that fulfills the following requirements:
(1) a Capital Investment Plan, both constrained and
unconstrained, that includes a plan for continuous and
sustained capital investment in new, and the replacement of
aged, transportation security equipment;
(2) the 5-year technology investment plan as required by
section 1611 of title XVI of the Homeland Security Act of
2002, as amended by section 3 of the Transportation Security
Acquisition Reform Act (Public Law 113-245); and
(3) the Advanced Integrated Passenger Screening
Technologies report as required by the Senate Report
accompanying the Department of Homeland Security
Appropriations Act, 2019 (Senate Report 115-283).
Sec. 223. Section 515(b) of Public Law 108-334 (49 U.S.C.
44945 note) is amended by striking ``report'' each place it
appears (including in the subsection heading) and inserting
``briefing'' and by striking ``transmit to'' and inserting
``provide''.
Sec. 224. (a) None of the funds made available by this Act
under the heading ``Coast Guard--Operations and Support''
shall be for expenses incurred for recreational vessels under
section 12114 of title 46, United States Code, except to the
extent fees are collected from owners of yachts and credited
to the appropriation made available by this Act under the
heading ``Coast Guard--Operations and Support''.
(b) To the extent such fees are insufficient to pay
expenses of recreational vessel documentation under such
section 12114, and there is a backlog of recreational vessel
applications, personnel performing non-recreational vessel
documentation functions under subchapter II of chapter 121 of
title 46, United States Code, may perform documentation under
section 12114.
Sec. 225. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
Commandant of the Coast Guard shall submit to the Committees
on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Senate a future-years capital investment plan as described in
the second proviso under the heading ``Coast Guard--
Acquisition, Construction, and Improvements'' in the
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015
(Public Law 114-4), which shall be subject to the
requirements in the third and fourth provisos under such
heading.
Sec. 226. None of the funds in this Act shall be used to
reduce the Coast Guard's legacy Operations Systems Center
mission or its government-employed or contract staff levels.
Sec. 227. None of the funds appropriated by this Act may
be used to conduct, or to implement the results of, a
competition under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-
76 for activities performed with respect to the Coast Guard
National Vessel Documentation Center.
Sec. 228. Funds made available in this Act may be used to
alter operations within the Civil Engineering Program of the
Coast Guard nationwide, including civil engineering units,
facilities design and construction centers, maintenance and
logistics commands, and the Coast Guard Academy, except that
none of the funds provided in this Act may be used to reduce
operations within any civil engineering unit unless
specifically authorized by a statute enacted after the date
of enactment of this Act.
Sec. 229. Amounts deposited into the Coast Guard Housing
Fund in fiscal year 2026 shall be available until expended to
carry out the purposes of section 2946 of title 14, United
States Code, and shall be in addition to funds otherwise
available for such purposes.
Sec. 230. (a) For an additional amount for ``Coast Guard--
Procurement, Construction, and Improvements'', $98,000,000,
to remain available until September 30, 2030, for the
procurement and acquisition of MQ-9 aircraft and associated
base stations, equipment related to such aircraft and
associated base stations, and program management for such
aircraft and base stations.
(b) None of the funds made available for the Department of
Homeland Security in this or any prior Act may be used to
procure or acquire long-range unmanned aircraft with kinetic
capabilities or to equip any long-range unmanned aircraft
with kinetic capabilities.
Sec. 231. None of the funds made available to the United
States Coast Guard by this Act may be available for
implementation of Force Design 2028 until the Coast Guard
provides the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Senate detailed briefings on the
initiatives of organization, people, technology, and
contracting and acquisitions.
Sec. 232. The United States Secret Service is authorized
to obligate funds in anticipation of reimbursements from
executive agencies, as defined in section 105 of title 5,
United States Code, for personnel receiving training
sponsored by the James J. Rowley Training Center, except that
total obligations at the end of the fiscal year shall not
[[Page H2736]]
exceed total budgetary resources available under the heading
``United States Secret Service--Operations and Support'' at
the end of the fiscal year.
Sec. 233. (a) None of the funds made available to the
United States Secret Service by this Act or by previous
appropriations Acts may be made available for the protection
of the head of a Federal agency other than the Secretary of
Homeland Security.
(b) The Director of the United States Secret Service may
enter into agreements to provide such protection on a fully
reimbursable basis.
Sec. 234. For purposes of section 503(a)(3) of this Act,
up to $15,000,000 may be reprogrammed within ``United States
Secret Service--Operations and Support''.
Sec. 235. Funding made available in this Act for ``United
States Secret Service--Operations and Support'' is available
for travel of United States Secret Service employees on
protective missions without regard to the limitations on such
expenditures in this or any other Act if the Director of the
United States Secret Service or a designee notifies the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate 10 or more days in advance, or as early as
practicable, prior to such expenditures.
Sec. 236. Of the amounts made available by this Act under
the heading ``United States Secret Service--Operations and
Support'', $2,000,000, to remain available until expended,
shall be distributed as a grant or cooperative agreement for
existing National Computer Forensics Institute facilities
currently used by the United States Secret Service to carry
out activities under section 383 of title 6, United States
Code.
Sec. 237. (a) Section 118 of the Treasury and General
Government Appropriations Act, 2001 (5 U.S.C. 5547 note) is
amended, in the first sentence, by inserting ``(or, for 2024,
to the extent that such aggregate amount would exceed the per
annum rate of salary payable under section 104 of title 3,
United States Code)'' before the period at the end.
(b) Subsection (a) shall take effect as if enacted on
December 31, 2023.
(c) Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, and annually thereafter through 2028, the Director
shall submit to the Committee on Appropriations of the House
of Representatives and the Senate; the Committee on Homeland
Security, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives; and the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs, and the Committee on the Judiciary of
the Senate of Congress a report describing the steps that the
United States Secret Service is taking to address the
increased protective service demands placed upon United
States Secret Service personnel.
(d) Each report required under subparagraph (c) shall
include the following:
(1) An analysis of the current (as of the date on which the
report is submitted) operational demands and staffing levels
with respect to the United States Secret Service.
(2) Recommended strategies for reducing overtime
requirements for United States Secret Service personnel,
including--
(A) the appointment of additional personnel;
(B) solutions such that sufficient resources are available
throughout each year without the need for exceptions to, or
waivers of, premium pay limitations;
(C) the redistribution of workload among United States
Secret Service personnel; and
(D) other improvements in operational efficiency with
respect to the United States Secret Service.
(e) Within the reports required under paragraphs (3) and
(4) of section 2(c) of the Overtime Pay for Protective
Services Act of 2023 (Public Law 118-38; 138 Stat. 13) that
are submitted after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Director shall include information about--
(1) the average number of overtime hours and range of
number of overtime hours completed by United States Secret
Service personnel receiving premium pay above the pay
limitation in subsection (a) of section 5547 of title 5,
United States Code; and
(2) the average number of overtime hours and range of
number of overtime hours completed by United States Secret
Service personnel who are not fully compensated for their
overtime because their premium pay would be above the pay
limitation in section 2 of the Overtime Pay Protection Act of
2016 (5 U.S.C. 5547 note).
(f) The matter preceding the first proviso under the
heading ``United States Secret Service--Operations and
Support'' in division C of Public Law 118-47 shall be applied
to funds appropriated by this Act by substituting
``$40,000,000'' for ``$24,000,000'' and substituting ``2024''
for ``2023''.
Sec. 238. Section 211 of the Department of Homeland
Security Appropriations Act, 2021 (division F of Public Law
116-260), prohibiting the use of funds for the construction
of fencing in certain areas, shall apply with respect to
funds made available in this Act in the same manner as such
section applied to funds made available in that Act.
TITLE III
PROTECTION, PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE, AND RECOVERY
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency for operations and support,
$2,218,634,000, which shall be for the purposes and in the
amounts specified in the ``Final Bill'' column for
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Operations
and Support in the ``Department of Homeland Security
Appropriations Act, 2026'' table in the explanatory statement
described in section 4 (in the matter preceding division A of
this consolidated Act), of which amounts made available for
Risk Management Operations, National Infrastructure
Simulation Analysis Center shall remain available until
September 30, 2027: Provided, That not to exceed $3,825
shall be for official reception and representation expenses.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of the Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency for procurement, construction,
and improvements, $386,464,000, to remain available until
September 30, 2028.
Federal Emergency Management Agency
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency for operations and support, $1,667,038,000: Provided,
That not less than $3,000,000 shall be for the Emergency
Management Assistance Compact: Provided further, That not to
exceed $2,250 shall be for official reception and
representation expenses.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency for procurement, construction, and improvements,
$156,419,000, of which $92,794,000 shall remain available
until September 30, 2028, and of which $63,625,000 shall
remain available until September 30, 2030.
federal assistance
For activities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
for Federal assistance through grants, contracts, cooperative
agreements, and other activities, $3,836,748,513, which shall
be allocated as follows:
(1) $494,000,000 for the State Homeland Security Grant
Program under section 2004 of the Homeland Security Act of
2002 (6 U.S.C. 605), of which $85,500,000 shall be for
Operation Stonegarden and $14,250,000 shall be for Tribal
Homeland Security Grants under section 2005 of the Homeland
Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 606): Provided, That
notwithstanding subsection (c)(4) of such section 2004, for
fiscal year 2026, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall make
available to local and tribal governments amounts provided to
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico under this paragraph in
accordance with subsection (c)(1) of such section 2004.
(2) $584,250,000 for the Urban Area Security Initiative
under section 2003 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6
U.S.C. 604).
(3) $300,000,000 for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program
under section 2009 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6
U.S.C. 609a), of which $150,000,000 is for eligible
recipients located in high-risk urban areas that receive
funding under section 2003 of such Act and $150,000,000 is
for eligible recipients that are located outside such areas:
Provided, That eligible recipients are those described in
section 2009(b) of such Act (6 U.S.C. 609a(b)) or are an
otherwise eligible recipient at risk of a terrorist or other
extremist attack.
(4) $99,750,000 for Public Transportation Security
Assistance, Railroad Security Assistance, and Over-the-Road
Bus Security Assistance under sections 1406, 1513, and 1532
of the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission
Act of 2007 (6 U.S.C. 1135, 1163, and 1182), of which
$9,500,000 shall be for Amtrak security and $1,900,000 shall
be for Over-the-Road Bus Security: Provided, That such
public transportation security assistance shall be provided
directly to public transportation agencies.
(5) $95,000,000 for Port Security Grants in accordance with
section 70107 of title 46, United States Code.
(6) $684,000,000, to remain available until September 30,
2027, of which $342,000,000 shall be for Assistance to
Firefighter Grants and $342,000,000 shall be for Staffing for
Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants under sections 33
and 34 respectively of the Federal Fire Prevention and
Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2229 and 2229a).
(7) $337,250,000 for emergency management performance
grants under the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121), the Earthquake
Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 (42 U.S.C. 7701), section 762
of title 6, United States Code, and Reorganization Plan No. 3
of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.).
(8) $297,113,000 for necessary expenses for Flood Hazard
Mapping and Risk Analysis, in addition to and to supplement
any other sums appropriated under the National Flood
Insurance Fund, and such additional sums as may be provided
by States or other political subdivisions for cost-shared
mapping activities under section 1360(f)(2) of the National
Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4101(f)(2)), to remain
available until expended.
(9) $11,400,000 for Regional Catastrophic Preparedness
Grants.
(10) $11,400,000 for Rehabilitation of High Hazard
Potential Dams under section 8A of the National Dam Safety
Program Act (33 U.S.C. 467f-2).
[[Page H2737]]
(11) $123,500,000 for the emergency food and shelter
program under title III of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11331), to remain available until
September 30, 2027: Provided, That not to exceed 3.5 percent
shall be for total administrative costs.
(12) $48,000,000 for the Next Generation Warning System.
(13) $272,671,513 for Community Project Funding and
Congressionally Directed Spending grants, which shall be for
the purposes, and the amounts, specified in the table
entitled ``Homeland Security--Community Project Funding/
Congressionally Directed Spending'' under the ``Disclosure of
Earmarks and Congressionally Directed Spending Items''
heading in the explanatory statement described in section 4
(in the matter preceding division A of this consolidated
Act), of which--
(A) $82,957,854, in addition to amounts otherwise made
available for such purpose, is for emergency operations
center grants under section 614 of the Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
5196c); and
(B) $189,713,659, in addition to amounts otherwise made
available for such purpose, is for pre-disaster mitigation
grants under section 203 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5133(e)),
notwithstanding subsections (f), (g), and (l) of that section
(42 U.S.C. 5133(f), (g), (l)).
(14) $478,414,000 to sustain current operations for
training, exercises, technical assistance, and other
programs, of which--
(A) $85,711,000 is for the Center for Domestic
Preparedness;
(B) $17,100,000 is for the Center for Homeland Defense and
Security;
(C) $33,366,000 is for the Emergency Management Institute;
(D) $72,140,000 is for the United States Fire
Administration;
(E) $95,950,000 is for the National Domestic Preparedness
Consortium;
(F) $15,200,000 is for Continuing Training Grants;
(G) $21,266,000 is for the National Exercise Program;
(H) $83,657,000 is for the Biological Support Program;
(I) $34,465,000 is for the Securing the Cities Program; and
(J) $19,559,000 is for Countering Weapons of Mass
Destruction Training, Exercises, and Readiness.
disaster relief fund
For necessary expenses in carrying out the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5121 et seq.), $26,367,000,000, to remain available
until expended: Provided, That such amount shall be for
major disasters declared pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121
et seq.) and is designated by the Congress as being for
disaster relief pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the
budget.
national flood insurance fund
For activities under the National Flood Insurance Act of
1968 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), the Flood Disaster Protection
Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), the Biggert-Waters
Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-141, 126
Stat. 916), and the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability
Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-89; 128 Stat. 1020),
$226,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2027,
which shall be derived from offsetting amounts collected
under section 1308(d) of the National Flood Insurance Act of
1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015(d)); of which $16,302,000 shall be
available for mission support associated with flood
management; and of which $209,698,000 shall be available for
flood plain management and flood mapping: Provided, That any
additional fees collected pursuant to section 1308(d) of the
National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4015(d))
shall be credited as offsetting collections to this account,
to be available for flood plain management and flood mapping:
Provided further, That in fiscal year 2026, no funds shall
be available from the National Flood Insurance Fund under
section 1310 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42
U.S.C. 4017) in excess of--
(1) $230,669,000 for operating expenses and salaries and
expenses associated with flood insurance operations;
(2) $1,505,000,000 for commissions and taxes of agents;
(3) such sums as are necessary for interest on Treasury
borrowings; and
(4) $175,000,000, which shall remain available until
expended, for flood mitigation actions and for flood
mitigation assistance under section 1366 of the National
Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104c),
notwithstanding sections 1366(e) and 1310(a)(7) of such Act
(42 U.S.C. 4104c(e), 4017):
Provided further, That the amounts collected under section
102 of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C.
4012a) and section 1366(e) of the National Flood Insurance
Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4104c(e)), shall be deposited in the
National Flood Insurance Fund to supplement other amounts
specified as available for section 1366 of the National Flood
Insurance Act of 1968, notwithstanding section 102(f)(8),
section 1366(e) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968,
and paragraphs (1) through (3) of section 1367(b) of such Act
(42 U.S.C. 4012a(f)(8), 4104c(e), 4104d(b)(1)-(3)): Provided
further, That total administrative costs shall not exceed 4
percent of the total appropriation: Provided further, That
up to $4,000,000 is available to carry out section 24 of the
Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (42
U.S.C. 4033).
Administrative Provisions
(including transfers of funds)
Sec. 301. Funds made available under the heading
``Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency--
Operations and Support'' may be made available for the
necessary expenses of procuring or providing access to
cybersecurity threat feeds for branches, agencies,
independent agencies, corporations, establishments, and
instrumentalities of the Federal Government of the United
States, State, local, tribal, and territorial entities,
fusion centers as described in section 210A of the Homeland
Security Act (6 U.S.C. 124h), and Information Sharing and
Analysis Organizations.
Sec. 302. (a) Notwithstanding section 2008(a)(12) of the
Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 609(a)(12)) or any
other provision of law, not more than 5 percent of the amount
of a grant made available in paragraphs (1) through (5) under
``Federal Emergency Management Agency--Federal Assistance'',
may be used by the recipient for expenses directly related to
administration of the grant.
(b) The authority provided in subsection (a) shall also
apply to a state recipient for the administration of a grant
under such paragraph (3).
Sec. 303. (a) Applications for grants under the heading
``Federal Emergency Management Agency--Federal Assistance'',
for paragraphs (1) through (5), shall be made available to
eligible applicants not later than 60 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, eligible applicants shall submit
applications not later than 80 days after the grant
announcement, and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency shall act within 65 days after the receipt
of an application.
(b) Amounts appropriated by this Act for ``Federal
Emergency Management Agency--Operations and Support'' shall
be reduced by $100,000 for each day past the 60-day
requirement that applications are not made available to
eligible applicants as required in subsection (a), and the
amount made available under such heading and specified in the
``Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026''
table in the explanatory statement described in section 4 (in
the matter preceding division A of this Consolidated Act) for
Mission Support shall be correspondingly reduced by an
equivalent amount.
Sec. 304. (a) Under the heading ``Federal Emergency
Management Agency--Federal Assistance'', for grants under
paragraphs (1) through (5), (9), and (10) the Administrator
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency shall brief the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate five full business days in advance of
announcing publicly the intention of making an award.
(b) If any such public announcement is made before five
full business days have elapsed following such briefing,
$1,000,000 of amounts appropriated by this Act for ``Federal
Emergency Management Agency--Operations and Support'' shall
be rescinded, and the amount made available under such
heading and specified in the ``Department of Homeland
Security Appropriations Act, 2026'' table in the explanatory
statement described in section 4 (in the matter preceding
division A of this Consolidated Act) for Mission Support
shall be correspondingly reduced by an equivalent amount.
Sec. 305. Under the heading ``Federal Emergency Management
Agency--Federal Assistance'', for grants under paragraphs (1)
and (2), the installation of communications towers is not
considered construction of a building or other physical
facility.
Sec. 306. The reporting requirements in paragraphs (1) and
(2) under the heading ``Federal Emergency Management Agency--
Disaster Relief Fund'' in the Department of Homeland Security
Appropriations Act, 2015 (Public Law 114-4), related to
reporting on the Disaster Relief Fund, shall be applied in
fiscal year 2026 with respect to budget year 2027 and current
fiscal year 2026, respectively--
(1) in paragraph (1) by substituting ``fiscal year 2027''
for ``fiscal year 2016''; and
(2) in paragraph (2) by inserting ``business'' after
``fifth''.
Sec. 307. In making grants under the heading ``Federal
Emergency Management Agency--Federal Assistance'', for
Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grants, the
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency may
grant waivers from the requirements in subsections (a)(1)(A),
(a)(1)(B), (a)(1)(E), (c)(1), (c)(2), and (c)(4) of section
34 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15
U.S.C. 2229a).
Sec. 308. (a) The aggregate charges assessed during fiscal
year 2026, as authorized in title III of the Departments of
Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (42 U.S.C.
5196e), shall not be less than 100 percent of the amounts
anticipated by the Department of Homeland Security to be
necessary for its Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program
for the next fiscal year.
(b) The methodology for assessment and collection of fees
shall be fair and equitable and shall reflect costs of
providing such services, including administrative costs of
collecting such fees.
(c) Such fees shall be deposited in a Radiological
Emergency Preparedness Program account as offsetting
collections and will become available for authorized purposes
on
[[Page H2738]]
October 1, 2026, and remain available until expended.
Sec. 309. In making grants under the heading ``Federal
Emergency Management Agency--Federal Assistance'', for
Assistance to Firefighter Grants, the Administrator of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency may waive subsection (k)
of section 33 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act
of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2229).
Sec. 310. Any unobligated balances of funds appropriated
in any prior Act for activities funded by the National
Predisaster Mitigation Fund under section 203 of the Robert
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5133), as in effect on the day before the date of
enactment of section 1234 of division D of Public Law 115-
254, shall be transferred to and merged with funds set aside
pursuant to subsection (i)(1) of section 203 of the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5133), as in effect on the date of the enactment of
this section.
Sec. 311. Any unobligated balances of funds appropriated
under the heading ``Federal Emergency Management Agency--
Flood Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis Program'' in any prior
Act shall be transferred to and merged with funds
appropriated under the heading ``Federal Emergency Management
Agency--Federal Assistance'' for necessary expenses for Flood
Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis: Provided, That funds
transferred pursuant to this section shall be in addition to
and supplement any other sums appropriated for such purposes
under the National Flood Insurance Fund and such additional
sums as may be provided by States or other political
subdivisions for cost-shared mapping activities under section
1360(f)(2) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42
U.S.C. 4101(f)(2)), to remain available until expended.
Sec. 312. Each award for grants under the heading
``Federal Emergency Management Agency--Federal Assistance''
for paragraphs (1) through (10) and (12), shall have a period
of performance, as defined by 2 CFR 200.1, that shall be of
not less than three years and not more than five years.
Sec. 313. (a) The Administrator of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency shall post an interactive dashboard on the
public-facing website of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency with any request for reimbursement for a covered
expense, delineated by state and any amount for individual
assistance or public assistance related to emergency (42
U.S.C. 5122(1)) or major disaster (42 U.S.C. 5122(2))
declarations under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.)--
(1) not more than 90 days after such information has been
received by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and
(2) not more than 60 days after such information is under
final review by the Department of Homeland Security.
(b) The information in the interactive dashboard referenced
in subsection (a) shall include at a minimum the information
listed in subparagraphs (1) through (7) under the heading in
the paragraph titled ``Public and Individual Assistance'' in
the explanatory statement described in section 4 (in the
matter preceding division A of this consolidated Act).
Sec. 314. (a) None of the funds appropriated in this Act
may be used to pause a training or grant funded under the
heading ``Federal Emergency Management Agency--Federal
Assistance''.
(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply if the Secretary of
Homeland Security notifies the Committees on Appropriations
of the House of Representatives and the Senate not more than
10 business days in advance of the pause.
(c) The notification required by subsection (b) shall
include an explanation for the pause, plans to make up any
missed classes resulting from the pause, and the budgetary
impact of any paused training.
(d) The Secretary may waive the requirement in subsection
(b) in the event of extraordinary circumstances that
imminently threaten the safety of human life or the
protection of property.
TITLE IV
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TRAINING, AND SERVICES
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
operations and support
For necessary expenses of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services for operations and support, including for the E-
Verify Program, $122,941,000: Provided, That such amounts
shall be in addition to any other amounts made available for
such purposes, and shall not be construed to require any
reduction of any fee described in section 286(m) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1356(m)): Provided
further, That not to exceed $5,000 shall be for official
reception and representation expenses.
Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Centers for operations and support, including the
purchase of not to exceed 117 vehicles for police-type use
and hire of passenger motor vehicles, and services as
authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code,
$379,837,000, of which $75,551,000 shall remain available
until September 30, 2027: Provided, That not to exceed
$7,180 shall be for official reception and representation
expenses.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Centers for procurement, construction, and
improvements, $18,300,000, to remain available until
September 30, 2030, for acquisition of necessary additional
real property and facilities, construction and ongoing
maintenance, facility improvements, and related expenses of
the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers.
Science and Technology Directorate
operations and support
For necessary expenses of the Science and Technology
Directorate for operations and support, including the
purchase or lease of not to exceed 5 vehicles, $352,802,000,
of which $201,183,000 shall remain available until September
30, 2027: Provided, That not to exceed $10,000 shall be for
official reception and representation expenses.
procurement, construction, and improvements
For necessary expenses of the Science and Technology
Directorate for procurement, construction, and improvements,
$51,500,000, to remain available until September 30, 2030.
research and development
For necessary expenses of the Science and Technology
Directorate for research and development, $426,904,000, to
remain available until September 30, 2028.
Administrative Provisions
Sec. 401. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
funds otherwise made available to U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services may be used to acquire, operate, equip,
and dispose of up to 5 vehicles, for replacement only, for
areas where the Administrator of General Services does not
provide vehicles for lease.
(b) The Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services may authorize employees who are assigned to those
areas to use such vehicles to travel between the employees'
residences and places of employment.
Sec. 402. None of the funds appropriated by this Act may
be used to process or approve a competition under Office of
Management and Budget Circular A-76 for services provided by
employees (including employees serving on a temporary or term
basis) of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the
Department of Homeland Security who are known as Immigration
Information Officers, Immigration Service Analysts, Contact
Representatives, Investigative Assistants, or Immigration
Services Officers.
Sec. 403. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any
Federal funds made available to U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services may be used for the collection and use
of biometrics taken at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services Application Support Center that is overseen
virtually by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
personnel using appropriate technology.
Sec. 404. The Director of the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Centers is authorized to distribute funds to Federal
law enforcement agencies for expenses incurred participating
in training accreditation.
Sec. 405. The Federal Law Enforcement Training
Accreditation Board, including representatives from the
Federal law enforcement community and non-Federal
accreditation experts involved in law enforcement training,
shall lead the Federal law enforcement training accreditation
process to continue the implementation of measuring and
assessing the quality and effectiveness of Federal law
enforcement training programs, facilities, and instructors.
Sec. 406. (a) The Director of the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Centers may accept transfers to its ``Procurement,
Construction, and Improvements'' account from Government
agencies requesting the construction of special use
facilities, as authorized by the Economy Act (31 U.S.C.
1535(b)).
(b) The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers shall
maintain administrative control and ownership upon completion
of such facilities.
Sec. 407. The functions of the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Centers instructor staff shall be classified as
inherently governmental for purposes of the Federal
Activities Inventory Reform Act of 1998 (31 U.S.C. 501 note).
TITLE V
GENERAL PROVISIONS
(including transfers and rescissions of funds)
Sec. 501. No part of any appropriation contained in this
Act shall remain available for obligation beyond the current
fiscal year unless expressly so provided herein.
Sec. 502. Subject to the requirements of section 503 of
this Act, the unexpended balances of prior appropriations
provided for activities in this Act may be transferred to
appropriation accounts for such activities established
pursuant to this Act, may be merged with funds in the
applicable established accounts, and thereafter may be
accounted for as one fund for the same time period as
originally enacted.
Sec. 503. (a) None of the funds provided by this Act,
provided by previous appropriations Acts to the components in
or transferred to the Department of Homeland Security that
remain available for obligation or expenditure in fiscal year
2026, or provided from any accounts in the Treasury of the
United States derived by the collection of fees available to
the components funded by this Act,
[[Page H2739]]
shall be available for obligation or expenditure through a
reprogramming of funds that--
(1) creates or eliminates a program, project, or activity,
or increases funds for any program, project, or activity for
which funds have been denied or restricted by the Congress;
(2) contracts out any function or activity presently
performed by Federal employees or any new function or
activity proposed to be performed by Federal employees in the
President's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 for the
Department of Homeland Security;
(3) augments funding for existing programs, projects, or
activities in excess of $5,000,000 or 10 percent, whichever
is less;
(4) reduces funding for any program, project, or activity,
or numbers of personnel, by 10 percent or more; or
(5) results from any general savings from a reduction in
personnel that would result in a change in funding levels for
programs, projects, or activities as approved by the
Congress.
(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply if the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate
are notified at least 30 days in advance of such
reprogramming.
(c) Up to 5 percent of any appropriation made available for
the current fiscal year for the Department of Homeland
Security by this Act or provided by previous appropriations
Acts may be transferred between such appropriations if the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate are notified at least 30 days in advance of
such transfer, but no such appropriation, except as otherwise
specifically provided, shall be increased by more than 10
percent by such transfer.
(d) Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b), and (c), no funds
shall be reprogrammed within or transferred between
appropriations--
(1) based upon an initial notification provided after June
15, except in extraordinary circumstances that imminently
threaten the safety of human life or the protection of
property;
(2) to increase or decrease funding for grant programs; or
(3) to create a program, project, or activity pursuant to
subsection (a)(1), including any new function or requirement
within any program, project, or activity, not approved by
Congress in the consideration of the enactment of this Act.
(e) The notification thresholds and procedures set forth in
subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) shall apply to any use of
deobligated balances of funds provided in previous Department
of Homeland Security Appropriations Acts that remain
available for obligation in the current year.
(f) Notwithstanding subsection (c), the Secretary of
Homeland Security may transfer to the fund established by 8
U.S.C. 1101 note, up to $20,000,000 from appropriations
available to the Department of Homeland Security: Provided,
That the Secretary shall notify the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate
at least 5 days in advance of such transfer.
Sec. 504. (a) Section 504 of the Department of Homeland
Security Appropriations Act, 2017 (division F of Public Law
115-31), related to the operations of a working capital fund,
shall apply with respect to funds made available in this Act
in the same manner as such section applied to funds made
available in that Act.
(b) Funds from such working capital fund may be obligated
and expended in anticipation of reimbursements from
components of the Department of Homeland Security.
Sec. 505. (a) Except as otherwise specifically provided by
law, not to exceed 50 percent of unobligated balances
remaining available at the end of fiscal year 2026, as
recorded in the financial records at the time of a
reprogramming notification, but not later than June 15, 2027,
from appropriations for ``Operations and Support'' for fiscal
year 2026 in this Act shall remain available through
September 30, 2027, in the account and for the purposes for
which the appropriations were provided.
(b) Prior to the obligation of such funds, a notification
shall be submitted to the Committees on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives and the Senate in accordance with
section 503 of this Act.
Sec. 506. (a) Funds made available by this Act for
intelligence activities are deemed to be specifically
authorized by the Congress for purposes of section 504 of the
National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 414) during fiscal
year 2026 until the enactment of an Act authorizing
intelligence activities for fiscal year 2026.
(b) Amounts described in subsection (a) made available for
``Intelligence, Analysis, and Situational Awareness--
Operations and Support'' that exceed the amounts in such
authorization for such account shall be transferred to and
merged with amounts made available under the heading
``Management Directorate--Operations and Support''.
(c) Prior to the obligation of any funds transferred under
subsection (b), the Undersecretary for Management shall brief
the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Senate on a plan for the use of such
funds.
Sec. 507. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security, or the
designee of the Secretary, shall notify the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate
at least three full business days in advance of--
(1) making or awarding a grant allocation or grant in
excess of $1,000,000 or a grant made from the Disaster Relief
Fund in excess of $100,000;
(2) making or awarding a contract, other transaction
agreement, or task or delivery order on a multiple award
contract, or to issue a letter of intent totaling in excess
of $2,000,000;
(3) awarding a task or delivery order requiring an
obligation of funds in an amount greater than $5,000,000 from
multi-year Department of Homeland Security funds;
(4) making a sole-source grant award; or
(5) announcing publicly the intention to make or award
items under paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) including a
contract covered by the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
(b) If the Secretary of Homeland Security determines that
compliance with this section would pose a substantial risk to
human life, health, or safety, an award may be made without
notification, and the Secretary shall notify the Committees
on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Senate not later than three full business days after such an
award is made or letter issued.
(c) A notification under this section--
(1) may not involve funds that are not available for
obligation; and
(2) shall include the amount of the award; the fiscal year
for which the funds for the award were appropriated; the type
of contract; and the account from which the funds are being
drawn.
Sec. 508. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no
agency shall purchase, construct, or lease any additional
facilities, except within or contiguous to existing
locations, to be used for the purpose of conducting Federal
law enforcement training without advance notification to the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate, except that the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Centers is authorized to obtain the temporary use of
additional facilities by lease, contract, or other agreement
for training that cannot be accommodated in existing Centers'
facilities.
Sec. 509. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made
available by this Act may be used for expenses for any
construction, repair, alteration, or acquisition project for
which a prospectus otherwise required under chapter 33 of
title 40, United States Code, has not been approved, except
that necessary funds may be expended for each project for
required expenses for the development of a proposed
prospectus.
Sec. 510. Sections 522 and 530 of the Department of
Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2008 (division E of
Public Law 110-161; 121 Stat. 2073 and 2074) shall apply with
respect to funds made available in this Act in the same
manner as such sections applied to funds made available in
that Act.
Sec. 511. (a) None of the funds made available in this Act
may be used in contravention of the applicable provisions of
the Buy American Act.
(b) For purposes of subsection (a), the term ``Buy American
Act'' means chapter 83 of title 41, United States Code.
Sec. 512. None of the funds made available in this Act may
be used to amend the oath of allegiance required by section
337 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1448).
Sec. 513. (a) None of the funds provided or otherwise made
available by this Act may be made available to carry out
section 872 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C.
452) unless explicitly authorized by the Congress after the
date of enactment of this Act.
(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply to the use of the
authorities provided by such section 872--
(1) to allocate or reallocate the functions of the
Assistant Secretary for the Countering Weapons of Mass
Destruction Office to other offices and organizational units
within the Department consistent with the ``Countering
Weapons of Mass Destruction'' table in the explanatory
statement described in section 4 (in the matter preceding
division A of this consolidated Act); or
(2) to allocate or reallocate any other functions of the
Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office to other
offices and organizational units within the Department
consistent with the ``Countering Weapons of Mass
Destruction'' table in the explanatory statement described in
section 4 (in the matter preceding division A of this
consolidated Act).
(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary may
transfer funds made available in prior appropriations Acts to
the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office between any
appropriations available to the Department as necessary to
carry out the purposes described in subsection (b).
Sec. 514. None of the funds made available in this Act may
be used for planning, testing, piloting, or developing a
national identification card.
Sec. 515. Any official that is required by this Act to
report or to certify to the Committees on Appropriations of
the House of Representatives and the Senate may not delegate
such authority to perform that act unless specifically
authorized herein.
Sec. 516. None of the funds made available in this Act may
be used for first-class travel by the employees of agencies
funded by this Act in contravention of sections 301-10.122
through 301-10.124 of title 41, Code of Federal Regulations.
Sec. 517. None of the funds made available in this Act may
be used to employ workers described in section 274A(h)(3) of
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)(3)).
[[Page H2740]]
Sec. 518. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act,
none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by
this Act may be used to pay award or incentive fees for
contractor performance that has been judged to be below
satisfactory performance or performance that does not meet
the basic requirements of a contract.
Sec. 519. (a) None of the funds made available in this Act
may be used to maintain or establish a computer network
unless such network blocks the viewing, downloading, and
exchanging of pornography.
(b) Nothing in subsection (a) shall limit the use of funds
necessary for any Federal, State, tribal, territorial, or
local law enforcement agency or any other entity carrying out
criminal investigations, prosecution, or adjudication
activities.
Sec. 520. None of the funds made available in this Act may
be used by a Federal law enforcement officer to facilitate
the transfer of an operable firearm to an individual if the
Federal law enforcement officer knows or suspects that the
individual is an agent of a drug cartel unless law
enforcement personnel of the United States continuously
monitor or control the firearm at all times.
Sec. 521. (a) None of the funds made available in this Act
may be used to pay for the travel to or attendance of more
than 50 employees of a single component of the Department of
Homeland Security, who are stationed in the United States, at
a single international conference unless the Secretary of
Homeland Security, or a designee, determines that such
attendance is in the national interest and notifies the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate within at least 10 days of that determination
and the basis for that determination.
(b) For purposes of this section the term ``international
conference'' shall mean a conference occurring outside of the
United States attended by representatives of the United
States Government and of foreign governments, international
organizations, or nongovernmental organizations.
(c) The total cost to the Department of Homeland Security
of any such conference shall not exceed $500,000.
(d) Employees who attend a conference virtually without
travel away from their permanent duty station within the
United States shall not be counted for purposes of this
section, and the prohibition contained in this section shall
not apply to payments for the costs of attendance for such
employees.
Sec. 522. None of the funds made available in this Act may
be used to reimburse any Federal department or agency for its
participation in a National Special Security Event.
Sec. 523. (a) None of the funds made available to the
Department of Homeland Security by this or any other Act may
be obligated for the implementation of any structural pay
reform or the introduction of any new position classification
that will affect more than 100 full-time positions or costs
more than $5,000,000 in a single year before the end of the
30-day period beginning on the date on which the Secretary of
Homeland Security submits to Congress a notification that
includes--
(1) the number of full-time positions affected by such
change;
(2) funding required for such change for the current fiscal
year and through the Future Years Homeland Security Program;
(3) justification for such change; and
(4) for a structural pay reform, an analysis of
compensation alternatives to such change that were considered
by the Department.
(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply to such change if--
(1) it was proposed in the President's budget proposal for
the fiscal year funded by this Act; and
(2) funds for such change have not been explicitly denied
or restricted in this Act.
Sec. 524. (a) Any agency receiving funds made available in
this Act shall, subject to subsections (b) and (c), post on
the public website of that agency any report required to be
submitted by the Committees on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives and the Senate in this Act, upon the
determination by the head of the agency that it shall serve
the national interest.
(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply to a report if--
(1) the public posting of the report compromises homeland
or national security; or
(2) the report contains proprietary information.
(c) The head of the agency posting such report shall do so
only after such report has been made available to the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate for not less than 45 days except as otherwise
specified in law.
(d) If the requirements of this section are not met, the
reprogramming and transfer authority provided in section 503
of this Act shall be suspended until the requirements of
subsection (a) are met.
Sec. 525. (a) Funding provided in this Act for ``Operations
and Support'' may be used for minor procurement,
construction, and improvements.
(b) For purposes of subsection (a), ``minor'' refers to end
items with a unit cost of $250,000 or less for personal
property, and $4,000,000 or less for real property.
Sec. 526. The authority provided by section 532 of the
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2018
(Public Law 115-141) regarding primary and secondary
schooling of dependents shall continue in effect during
fiscal year 2026.
Sec. 527. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), none of
the funds made available in this Act may be used to place
restraints on a woman in the custody of the Department of
Homeland Security (including during transport, in a detention
facility, or at an outside medical facility) who is pregnant
or in post-delivery recuperation.
(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a
pregnant woman if--
(1) an appropriate official of the Department of Homeland
Security makes an individualized determination that the
woman--
(A) is a serious flight risk, and such risk cannot be
prevented by other means; or
(B) poses an immediate and serious threat to harm herself
or others that cannot be prevented by other means; or
(2) a medical professional responsible for the care of the
pregnant woman determines that the use of therapeutic
restraints is appropriate for the medical safety of the
woman.
(c) If a pregnant woman is restrained pursuant to
subsection (b), only the safest and least restrictive
restraints, as determined by the appropriate medical
professional treating the woman, may be used. In no case may
restraints be used on a woman who is in active labor or
delivery, and in no case may a pregnant woman be restrained
in a face-down position with four-point restraints, on her
back, or in a restraint belt that constricts the area of the
pregnancy. A pregnant woman who is immobilized by restraints
shall be positioned, to the maximum extent feasible, on her
left side.
Sec. 528. (a) None of the funds made available by this Act
may be used to destroy any document, recording, or other
record pertaining to any--
(1) death of;
(2) potential sexual assault or abuse perpetrated against;
or
(3) allegation of abuse, criminal activity, or disruption
committed by an individual held in the custody of the
Department of Homeland Security.
(b) The records referred to in subsection (a) shall be made
available, in accordance with applicable laws and
regulations, and Federal rules governing disclosure in
litigation, to an individual who has been charged with a
crime, been placed into segregation, or otherwise punished as
a result of an allegation described in paragraph (3), upon
the request of such individual.
Sec. 529. Section 519 of division F of Public Law 114-113,
regarding a prohibition on funding for any position
designated as a Principal Federal Official, shall apply with
respect to any Federal funds in the same manner as such
section applied to funds made available in that Act.
Sec. 530. (a) Not later than 10 days after the date on
which the budget of the President for a fiscal year is
submitted to Congress pursuant to section 1105(a) of title
31, United States Code, the Under Secretary for Management of
Homeland Security shall submit to the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate
a report on the unfunded priorities, for the Department of
Homeland Security and separately for each departmental
component, for which discretionary funding would be
classified as budget function 050.
(b) Each report under this section shall specify, for each
such unfunded priority--
(1) a summary description, including the objectives to be
achieved if such priority is funded (whether in whole or in
part);
(2) the description, including the objectives to be
achieved if such priority is funded (whether in whole or in
part);
(3) account information, including the following (as
applicable):
(A) appropriation account; and
(B) program, project, or activity name; and
(4) the additional number of full-time or part-time
positions to be funded as part of such priority.
(c) In this section, the term ``unfunded priority'', in the
case of a fiscal year, means a requirement that--
(1) is not funded in the budget referred to in subsection
(a);
(2) is necessary to fulfill a requirement associated with
an operational or contingency plan for the Department; and
(3) would have been recommended for funding through the
budget referred to in subsection (a) if--
(A) additional resources had been available for the budget
to fund the requirement;
(B) the requirement has emerged since the budget was
formulated; or
(C) the requirement is necessary to sustain prior-year
investments.
Sec. 531. (a) Not later than 10 days after a determination
is made by the President to evaluate and initiate protection
under any authority for a former or retired Government
official or employee, or for an individual who, during the
duration of the directed protection, will become a former or
retired Government official or employee (referred to in this
section as a ``covered individual''), the Secretary of
Homeland Security shall submit a notification to
congressional leadership and the Committees on Appropriations
of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the
Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives
and the Senate, the Committee on Homeland Security of the
House of Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Committee on
Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives
(referred to in this section as the ``appropriate
congressional committees'').
[[Page H2741]]
(b) Such notification may be submitted in classified form,
if necessary, and in consultation with the Director of
National Intelligence or the Director of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, as appropriate, and shall include the
threat assessment, scope of the protection, and the
anticipated cost and duration of such protection.
(c) Not later than 15 days before extending, or 30 days
before terminating, protection for a covered individual, the
Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a notification
regarding the extension or termination and any change to the
threat assessment to the congressional leadership and the
appropriate congressional committees.
(d) Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, and quarterly thereafter, the Secretary shall
submit a report to the congressional leadership and the
appropriate congressional committees, which may be submitted
in classified form, if necessary, detailing each covered
individual, and the scope and associated cost of protection.
Sec. 532. (a) None of the funds provided to the Department
of Homeland Security in this or any prior Act may be used by
an agency to submit an initial project proposal to the
Technology Modernization Fund (as authorized by section 1078
of subtitle G of title X of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115-91))
unless, concurrent with the submission of an initial project
proposal to the Technology Modernization Board, the head of
the agency--
(1) notifies the Committees on Appropriations of the House
of Representatives and the Senate of the proposed submission
of the project proposal;
(2) submits to the Committees on Appropriations a copy of
the project proposal; and
(3) provides a detailed analysis of how the proposed
project funding would supplement or supplant funding
requested as part of the Department's most recent budget
submission.
(b) None of the funds provided to the Department of
Homeland Security by the Technology Modernization Fund shall
be available for obligation until 15 days after a report on
such funds has been transmitted to the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Senate.
(c) The report described in subsection (b) shall include--
(1) the full project proposal submitted to and approved by
the Fund's Technology Modernization Board;
(2) the finalized interagency agreement between the
Department and the Fund including the project's deliverables
and repayment terms, as applicable;
(3) a detailed analysis of how the project will supplement
or supplant existing funding available to the Department for
similar activities;
(4) a plan for how the Department will repay the Fund,
including specific planned funding sources, as applicable;
and
(5) other information as determined by the Secretary.
Sec. 533. Within 60 days of any budget submission for the
Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2027 that
assumes revenues or proposes a reduction from the previous
year based on user fees proposals that have not been enacted
into law prior to the submission of the budget, the Secretary
of Homeland Security shall provide the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate
specific reductions in proposed discretionary budget
authority commensurate with the revenues assumed in such
proposals in the event that they are not enacted prior to
October 1, 2026.
Sec. 534. None of the funds made available by this Act may
be obligated or expended to implement the Arms Trade Treaty
until the Senate approves a resolution of ratification for
the Treaty.
Sec. 535. No Federal funds made available to the
Department of Homeland Security may be used to enter into a
procurement contract, memorandum of understanding, or
cooperative agreement with, or make a grant to, or provide a
loan or guarantee to, any entity identified under section
1260H of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116-283)
or any subsidiary of such entity.
Sec. 536. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made
available in this or any other Act may be used to transfer,
release, or assist in the transfer or release to or within
the United States, its territories, or possessions Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed or any other detainee who--
(1) is not a United States citizen or a member of the Armed
Forces of the United States; and
(2) is or was held on or after June 24, 2009, at the United
States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the Department
of Defense.
Sec. 537. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall, on
a monthly basis beginning immediately after the date of
enactment of this Act, develop estimates of the number of
migrants anticipated to arrive at the southwest border of the
United States.
(b) The Secretary shall ensure that, at a minimum, the
estimates developed pursuant to subsection (a)--
(1) cover the current fiscal year and the following fiscal
year;
(2) include a breakout by demographic, to include single
adults, family units, and unaccompanied children;
(3) undergo an independent validation and verification
review;
(4) are used to inform policy planning and budgeting
processes within the Department of Homeland Security; and
(5) are included in the budget materials submitted to
Congress for each fiscal year beginning after the date of
enactment of this Act and in support of--
(A) the President's annual budget request pursuant to
section 1105 of title 31, United States Code;
(B) any supplemental funding request submitted to Congress;
(C) any reprogramming and transfer notification pursuant to
section 503 of this Act; and
(D) such budget materials shall include--
(i) the most recent monthly estimates developed pursuant to
subsection (a);
(ii) a description and quantification of the estimates used
to justify funding requests for Department programs related
to border security, immigration enforcement, and immigration
services;
(iii) a description and quantification of the anticipated
workload and requirements resulting from such estimates; and
(iv) a confirmation as to whether the budget requests for
impacted agencies were developed using the same estimates.
(c) The Secretary shall share the monthly estimates
developed pursuant to subsection (a) with the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, the Attorney General, the
Secretary of State, and the Committees on Appropriations of
the House of Representatives and the Senate.
(d) If the monthly estimates described in subsection (b)
are not provided for the purposes described, the
reprogramming and transfer authority provided in section 503
of this Act shall be suspended until such time as the
required estimates are provided to the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Senate.
Sec. 538. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall, on
a monthly basis beginning immediately after the date of
enactment of this Act, develop estimates of the number of
individuals anticipated to be detained in and removed from
the United States.
(b) The Secretary shall ensure that, at a minimum, the
estimates developed pursuant to subsection (a)--
(1) cover the current fiscal year and the following fiscal
year;
(2) include a breakout by demographics, to include single
adults and family units;
(3) undergo an independent validation and verification
review;
(4) are used to inform policy planning and budgeting
processes within the Department of Homeland Security; and
(5) are included in the budget materials submitted to
Congress for each fiscal year beginning after the date of
enactment of this Act and in support of--
(A) the President's annual budget request pursuant to
section 1105 of title 31, United States Code;
(B) any supplemental funding request submitted to Congress;
(C) any reprogramming and transfer notification pursuant to
section 503 of this Act; and
(D) such budget materials shall include--
(i) the most recent monthly estimates developed pursuant to
subsection (a);
(ii) a description and quantification of the estimates used
to justify funding requests for Department programs related
to border security, immigration enforcement, and immigration
services;
(iii) a description and quantification of the anticipated
workload and requirements resulting from such estimates; and
(iv) a confirmation as to whether the budget requests for
impacted agencies were developed using the same estimates.
(c) The Secretary shall share the monthly estimates
developed pursuant to subsection (a) with the Attorney
General, the Secretary of State, and the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Senate.
(d) If the monthly estimates described in subsection (b)
are not provided for the purposes described, the
reprogramming and transfer authority provided in section 503
of this Act shall be suspended until such time as the
required estimates are provided to the Committees on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Senate.
Sec. 539. (a) Prior to the Secretary of Homeland Security
requesting assistance from the Department of Defense for
border security operations, the Secretary shall ensure that
an alternatives analysis and cost-benefit analysis is
conducted before such request is made, which shall include an
examination of obtaining such support through other means.
(b) Not later than 30 days after the date on which a
request for assistance is made, the Secretary of Homeland
Security shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations of
the House of Representatives and the Senate a report
detailing the types of support requested, the alternatives
analysis and cost-benefit analysis described in subsection
(a), and the operational impact to Department of Homeland
Security operations of any Department of Defense border
security support requested by the Secretary.
(c) Not later than 30 days after the date on which a
request made for assistance is granted and quarterly
thereafter through the duration of such assistance, the
Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to the Committees
on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the
Senate, a report detailing the assistance provided and the
operational impacts to border security operations.
[[Page H2742]]
Sec. 540. Funds made available in this Act or any other
Act for Operations and Support may be used for the necessary
expenses of providing an employee emergency back-up care
program.
Sec. 541. (a) Not less than $5,000,000 made available in
this Act shall be transferred to ``U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement--Operations and Support'' to support and
conduct necessary operations of the Blue Campaign for fiscal
year 2026.
(b) Prior to the obligation of funds made available by
subsection (a), notification shall be submitted to the
Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives
and the Senate.
Sec. 542. (a) If the reporting requirement set forth in
paragraph (2) under the heading ``Federal Emergency
Management Agency--Disaster Relief Fund'' in the Department
of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015 (Public Law
114-4), as applied in this fiscal year by section 306 of this
Act, is not submitted to the Committees on Appropriations of
the House of Representatives and the Senate and published on
the Agency's website not later than the fifth business day of
the applicable month, the amount made available for ``Office
of the Secretary and Executive Management--Operations and
Support--Management and Oversight'' shall be reduced by
$100,000 for each day such report is not submitted and
published on the Agency's website.
(b) During any period in which the total number of requests
for reimbursement for a covered expense for individual
assistance or public assistance related to emergency (42
U.S.C. 5122(1)) or major disaster (42 U.S.C. 5122(2))
declarations under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) that the
Department of Homeland Security has been considering under
final review for greater than 60 days exceeds 500, the amount
made available for ``Office of the Secretary and Executive
Management--Operations and Support--Management and
Oversight'' shall be reduced by $100,000 for each day during
such period on which the cumulative total of requests over 60
days in final review exceeds 500.
(c) Subsection (b) shall not apply if the balance of
funding for the Disaster Relief Fund is sufficient only for
the purpose of obligating funds for activities determined to
be lifesaving or life-sustaining.
Sec. 543. Section 16005(c) of title VI of division B of
the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
(Public Law 116-136) shall be applied as if the language read
as follows: ``Subsection (a) shall apply until September 30,
2026.''.
Sec. 544. The levels for appropriations accounts specified
for classified programs in this Act shall conform to the
direction included in the classified annex accompanying this
Act and shall be implemented in a manner consistent with
section 545.
Sec. 545. Upon a determination by the Director of National
Intelligence that such action is necessary and in the
national interest, the Director may, with the approval of the
Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the Office
of Management and Budget, transfer amounts for the National
Intelligence Program consistent with the percentage caps
specified in section 503(c): Provided, That such authority
to transfer may not be used unless for higher priority items,
based on unforeseen intelligence requirements, than those for
which originally appropriated and in no case where the item
for which funds are requested has been denied by the
Congress: Provided further, That a request for any transfer
of funds using authority provided in this section shall be
made consistent with the requirements of section 503(d)(1).
Sec. 546. Within seven days of the date of enactment of
this Act, and quarterly thereafter, the Department shall
submit to the Committees on Appropriation of the House of
Representatives and the Senate--
(1) an obligation plan by program, project, or activity for
each component receiving funds from Public Law 119-21;
(2) estimated fee collections for each component collecting
new or enhanced fees authorized by Public Law 119-21,
delineated by collections that a component will retain and
collections that a component will remit to other agencies or
the Treasury; and
(3) an obligation plan by program, project, or activity for
fee collections identified in paragraph (2) as being retained
by a component within the Department.
Sec. 547. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise
made available to the Department of Homeland Security by this
Act may be used to prevent any of the following persons from
entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any
facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland
Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens, or to make
any temporary modification at any such facility that in any
way alters what is observed by a visiting Member of Congress
or such designated employee, compared to what would be
observed in the absence of such modification:
(1) A Member of Congress.
(2) An employee of the United States House of
Representatives or the United States Senate designated by
such a Member for the purposes of this section.
(b) Nothing in this section may be construed to require a
Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to
enter a facility described in subsection (a) for the purpose
of conducting oversight.
(c) With respect to individuals described in subsection
(a)(2), the Department of Homeland Security may require that
a request be made at least 24 hours in advance of an intent
to enter a facility described in subsection (a).
Sec. 548. In addition to amounts otherwise made available
for such purposes, there is appropriated $30,000,000, for an
additional amount for ``The Judiciary--Supreme Court of the
United States--Salaries and Expenses'', to remain available
until September 30, 2028: Provided, That amounts made
available pursuant to this section shall be subject to the
same authorities and conditions as if such amounts were
provided under the heading ``The Judiciary--Supreme Court of
the United States--Salaries and Expenses'' in the Financial
Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2026.
Sec. 549. There is appropriated $140,000,000 for an
additional amount for ``Department of Transportation-Federal
Aviation Administration-Operations'' for air traffic
organization activities, to remain available until September
30, 2027: Provided, That the Administrator of the Federal
Aviation Administration shall only use such amounts to
provide a rate of pay increase for calendar year 2026 of 3.8
percent, for air traffic controllers, as defined by section
2109(1)(A) of title 5, United States Code, and air traffic
controller supervisors or managers who are not covered under
such section, but who manage air traffic: Provided further,
That such adjustment shall be implemented for all such
employees only to the extent the Administrator determines, in
his sole discretion, that improvements in workforce
scheduling, staffing utilization, or other operational
efficiencies are achieved that contribute to addressing
workforce shortfalls and enhancing aviation safety: Provided
further, That if the Administrator makes such determination,
then such adjustment shall be effective the first pay period
beginning after January 1, 2026: Provided further, That
amounts provided by this section shall be subject to the same
authorities and conditions as if such amounts were provided
by the Department of Transportation Appropriations Act, 2026.
Sec. 550. (a) Of the total amount provided under the
heading ``Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency--
Operations and Support'', $99,750,000 shall be derived by
transfer from the unobligated balances of amounts previously
appropriated under the heading ``Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency--Cybersecurity Response and
Recovery Fund'' in division J of the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58).
(b) Amounts derived by transfer pursuant to this section
shall continue to be treated as amounts specified in section
103(b) of division A of Public Law 118-5.
(rescissions of funds)
Sec. 551. Of the funds appropriated to the Department of
Homeland Security, the following funds are hereby rescinded
from the following accounts and programs in the specified
amounts: Provided, That no amounts may be rescinded from
amounts that were designated by the Congress as an emergency
requirement pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget
or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of
1985:
(1) $73,327,000 from the unobligated balances available in
the ``Management Directorate--Procurement, Construction, and
Improvements'' account (70 22/26 0406).
(2) $6,713,000 from the unobligated balances available in
the ``U.S. Customs and Border Protection--Operations and
Support'' account (70 X 0530).
(3) $387,000 from the unobligated balances available in the
``U.S. Customs and Border Protection--Automation
Modernization'' account (70 X 0531).
(4) $917,000 from the unobligated balances available in the
``U.S. Customs and Border Protection--Procurement,
Construction, and Improvements'' account (70 X 0532).
(5) $6,336,000 from the unobligated balances available in
the ``U.S. Customs and Border Protection--Border Security
Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology'' account (70 X
0533).
(6) $1,413,000 from the unobligated balances available in
the ``U.S. Customs and Border Protection--Air and Marine
Interdiction, Operations, Maintenance, and Procurement''
account (70 X 0544).
(7) $172,000 from the unobligated balances available in the
``Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency--
Infrastructure Protection and Infrastructure Security''
account (70 X 0565).
Sec. 552. The following unobligated balances made
available to the Department of Homeland Security pursuant to
section 505 of the Department of Homeland Security
Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-47), as incorporated
by section 1101 of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations
Act, 2025 (Public Law 119-4), are rescinded:
(1) $2,072,147 from ``Office of the Secretary and Executive
Management--Operations and Support''.
(2) $5,487,177 from ``Management Directorate--Operations
and Support''.
(3) $4,493,650 from ``Intelligence, Analysis, and
Situational Awareness--Operations and Support''.
(4) $88,190 from ``Office of the Inspector General--
Operations and Support''.
(5) $1,139,096 from ``U.S. Customs and Border Protection--
Operations and Support''.
(6) $19,650,000 from ``Transportation Security
Administration--Operations and Support''.
(7) $703,390 from ``United States Secret Service--
Operations and Support''.
[[Page H2743]]
(8) $52,349,050 from ``Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency--Operations and Support''.
(9) $18,525,975 from ``Federal Emergency Management
Agency--Operations and Support''.
(10) $120,860 from ``U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services--Operations and Support''.
(11) $178,340 from ``Science and Technology Directorate--
Operations and Support''.
(12) $6,937,020 from ``Countering Weapons of Mass
Destruction Office--Operations and Support''.
Sec. 553. Of the unobligated balances in the ``Department
of Homeland Security Nonrecurring Expenses Fund'' established
in section 538 of division F of Public Law 117-103,
$2,362,000 are hereby rescinded.
This division may be cited as the ``Department of Homeland
Security Appropriations Act, 2026''.
DIVISION B--FURTHER ADDITIONAL CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026
Sec. 1001. For the purposes of the Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2026 (division A of Public Law 119-37),
the time covered by such division shall be considered to
include the period which began on or about February 13, 2026,
during which there occurred a lapse in appropriations.
Sec. 1002. Amounts made available in the Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2026 (division A of Public Law 119-37)
and by the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations
Act, 2026 (division A of this Act) for personnel pay,
allowances, and benefits in each department and agency shall
be available for payments pursuant to subsection (c) of
section 1341 of title 31, United States Code and such
payments shall be made.
Sec. 1003. All obligations incurred and in anticipation of
the appropriations made and authority granted by the
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026 (division A of Public Law
119-37) and by division A of this Act for the purposes of
maintaining the essential level of activity to protect life
and property and bringing about orderly termination of
Government function, and for purposes as otherwise authorized
by law, are hereby ratified and approved if otherwise in
accord with the provisions of such Act.
This division may be cited as the ``Further Additional
Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill shall be debatable for 1 hour
equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member
of the Committee on Appropriations or their respective designees.
The gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) and the gentlewoman from
Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole).
General Leave
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have
five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Oklahoma?
There was no objection.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, last year, Democrats initiated the longest full
government shutdown in American history. It severely impacted families,
agencies, personnel, and services across the Nation.
What should have been a lesson on how not to treat hardworking
Americans has instead become routine for Senator Schumer and Senate
Democrats.
Today marks day 41 of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown,
already the longest partial shutdown on record. In just 3 days, it will
surpass even last year's historic lapse, further compounding the harm
to our national security and the workforce charged with protecting it.
There are many ways to measure the damage, yet every metric reflects
a burden on our citizens.
We can look at time. DHS has been comprehensively shut down for close
to 50 percent of the fiscal year. That is nearly 100 days of
dysfunction and counting.
We can look at personnel. More than 100,000 employees have missed
paychecks.
We can look at travel. Airports across the Nation are experiencing
severe lines and delays as TSA callout rates soar.
We can look at contingency funds. FEMA's disaster relief fund is
nearly empty.
The list doesn't end there, yet it makes clear exactly what Senate
Democrats have chosen.
But today, we are once again providing our colleagues across the
aisle an opportunity to stop the chaos. Life doesn't offer many second
chances, but here on the House floor this afternoon offers many
Democrats a third chance to get it right.
I am proud to say my friend and fellow appropriator, Mr. Ciscomani
from Arizona, has introduced a Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act. This
legislation comprehensively funds DHS.
It resources critical security efforts, pays personnel, and gets our
front line back to operational strength. It doesn't just pick and
choose which parts of Homeland Security matter. It ensures that
missions and personnel are supported across the board for the rest of
the fiscal year.
Representative Ciscomani put it plainly in a recent piece that he
wrote, saying: ``This should not be a partisan issue. Paying the people
who protect our country should be the bare minimum expectation of a
functioning government. It is about respect. It is about
responsibility. And most importantly, it is about safety.'' Mr.
Ciscomani got it exactly right.
This isn't a game. We are dealing with real security objectives, real
community impacts, and real livelihoods.
Congress has a basic responsibility: fund the government, pay the
workforce, and protect the homeland.
Republicans have consistently voted to meet that duty, and I urge
Senate Democrats to follow our example.
I call on everyone to vote ``yes.'' End this shutdown, and keep our
Nation safe.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Before I make my remarks on the bill, I would like to take a moment
to praise the work of one of our staff who is leaving the committee
next week.
Jocelyn Hunn is a trailblazer. In 1983, she became the second woman
to ever work as a professional staff member for the House
Appropriations Committee.
In her career, she fought to preserve our natural and cultural
resources, ensure access to clean air and water, and provide services
to all Americans to advance their well-being and help them to achieve a
better life.
Jocelyn is retiring from a career in government service on Tuesday.
The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee and the
entire House of Representatives owe her a debt of gratitude for her
tireless work, and that began more than four decades ago.
I wish my friend Godspeed. It has been a pleasure to work with her.
It really has.
{time} 1330
Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this twice-doomed legislation.
Madam Speaker, what is the definition of insanity?
It is doing the same thing over and over and over again, expecting a
different result. This is not a serious effort. It is just more
political theater.
Here is the truth: The President has given up on funding DHS. He said
earlier this week that any deal Congress makes, ``I am pretty much not
happy with it.'' Then, he said to Republicans: Don't make a deal with
the Democrats.
Does that sound like someone who wants to end this crisis and pay TSA
workers?
Madam Speaker, the Congress is on its own. The only way we are
getting out of this logjam is if we work together to exercise our power
of the purse.
The talks in the Senate have all but fallen apart. The President is
refusing to get behind anything. Tomorrow will mark the second full
paycheck that TSA workers and others across DHS will miss.
I might just make a note here, because I think it is important to say
something about this. In fact, at this moment, 85 percent of ICE and
CBP are being paid; Secret Service, 75 percent; and Coast Guard, 85
percent.
TSA workers are being paid zero, but the TSA Administrator confirmed
yesterday that the Department made the decision not to pay TSA workers.
The Department made that decision, I am sure in concert with the
President of the United States, that these are folks who are
expendable. We don't have to pay them. Let's pay the others and leave
them on their own.
Again, this is not someone or some Department that cares about TSA
workers.
[[Page H2744]]
I have put forward a proposal that I honestly believe is a reasonable
middle ground between the two sides of this discussion. Democrats do
not want to provide more funding for ICE or CBP without legally binding
policy changes that protect our communities. Republicans are opposed to
many of these changes and want to fund ICE and CBP without any new
protections.
Neither side disagrees over funding for TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard,
or other parts of DHS. What we are caught up on is whether or not we
can deal with ICE and CBP separately, or if we have to fund everything
all at once. I do not believe that it must be all or nothing.
My proposal, which I introduced over 1 month ago, funds the parts of
DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, that we all agree on. It
funds TSA so that these workers can get paid--they can pay their bills,
they can stop sleeping in their cars, and they can avoid evictions--and
so that we can put an end to the long lines at airport security.
It funds FEMA so that we can replenish the Disaster Relief Fund and
ensure that our communities are prepared for the next natural disaster.
It fully funds cybersecurity so that we are equipped to prevent or
respond to any threat that comes our way.
It separates out the funding for ICE and CBP for the time being, just
for the time being, so that we can negotiate on that issue without
holding the rest of the Department hostage.
I have been listening to the debates over this impasse. I believe
some of my Republican colleagues are under the impression that my
proposal is designed to permanently shutter ICE and CBP. That is not
true. That is not the case. We will have to pass a bill to fund those
agencies, and we will do so when we have come together on an agreement
that establishes reasonable protections against abuse, reasonable
protections, I might add, that the vast majority of Americans support.
We cannot have masked, armed Federal agents roaming our communities,
breaking down doors with no warrants, arresting people with no
explanation, and, yes, even murdering Americans in the streets.
In the meantime, there is no reason to keep the rest of the
Department shut down.
Madam Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to
recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I
would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill.
My amendment would have replaced the text of the doomed Republican
proposal with the text of my bill to fund the parts of DHS over which
there is no disagreement.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my
amendment into the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion
to recommit.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Foxx). Is there objection to the request
of the gentlewoman from Connecticut?
There was no objection.
Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in
voting for the motion to recommit, and I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, before I yield to my next Speaker, I want to
associate myself with the remarks of my good friend, the ranking
member, in terms of her retiring staff, Jocelyn Hunn. I join my friend
in congratulating her on her distinguished service and wishing her well
in the next chapter of her life.
Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from
Louisiana (Mr. Scalise).
Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Oklahoma, the
great chairman of the Appropriations Committee, for yielding.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of Congressman Ciscomani's
bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
Madam Speaker, this is a bill that should have passed weeks and weeks
ago. In fact, today will mark the third time that this House has voted
to fully fund the Department. In case you want to know how that vote
went, Madam Speaker, there has been a record vote twice already in the
House. You can see who is voting ``yes'' to fund TSA agents, to fund
the people at the Department of Homeland Security who work every day to
keep us safe here in America. All the Republicans, almost every
Republican, voted ``yes.'' On March 5, almost every Democrat voted
``no,'' voted to shut the Department down. The Democrats shut this
down, Madam Speaker.
Then, we brought another vote, Madam Speaker, and you can see January
22 was the first vote, almost a party-line vote, Republicans voting
``yes'' to fund the Department and Democrats voting ``no.''
March 5, same thing, Republicans voting ``yes'' to fund the
Department and Democrats overwhelmingly voting ``no'' to shut it down.
Now, today is a day where they can seek redemption and stand up for
those workers, the TSA agents, who are showing up for work and not
getting paid.
Do you know that if you are a TSA agent in America this fiscal year,
Madam Speaker, you have gone 49 percent of this year without a
paycheck?
That is disgraceful. It is disgraceful that Democrats have voted time
and time again to deny pay for those especially who are showing up to
do this hard work.
You have Americans waiting in line for hours and hours, 3 hours, 4
hours. At my home airport in New Orleans, people were sleeping
overnight there so they would have a chance to make their flight. There
are people waiting over 3 hours and still missing a flight, Madam
Speaker, to go maybe on a family vacation, maybe they have to go to a
funeral or a wedding.
This is disrupting the lives of real people.
{time} 1340
Let me tell you what the TSA chief testified to yesterday, just
yesterday. The TSA chief told lawmakers that their agents ``have
received eviction notices, lost their childcare, missed bill payments
and been charged late fees, damaged their credit, defaulted on loans,
and have been unable to even qualify for a loan to help ease the
financial burden during the shutdown.'' That was testimony given
yesterday, and it is totally avoidable.
That kind of pain should not be inflicted on our Federal workers, and
yet you can see the party-line vote time and time again, like today
when we bring a bill to say let's just give these people paychecks for
the work that they are doing.
We can all have disagreements over how government operates. Go look
at the changes President Trump has already made at the Department of
Homeland Security. This week we got a new Secretary. There have been
dramatic changes to the Department. In fact, changes both sides have
made or have asked for have been made.
Yet, Democrats don't want to take ``yes'' for an answer, Madam
Speaker, because they want chaos. Let's just call it for what it is.
They want open borders. They want chaos. We are going to give them an
opportunity to do the right thing because the American people are sick
and tired of it, and they should be.
There is going to be a moment of accountability real soon. In about
an hour, you will be able to see, America will be able to see who is
voting ``yes'' to fund these people who are working so hard, and who is
voting ``no'' to keep the chaos going, to keep the long lines going.
Now, I would like to say I am going to read you some good news. I
want to read you a quote from Hakeem Jeffries, Madam Speaker. I think
this is an important quote that everybody should listen to right now.
This is Hakeem Jeffries: ``We are here today to do a single job, and
that should be to fund fully the Department of Homeland Security.
Anything else is an abdication of our responsibility. Anything else is
an act of legislative malpractice. So we are playing political games at
a time when the safety and the security of the American people is being
threatened.''
That is Hakeem Jeffries, Madam Speaker. Unfortunately, that was
Hakeem Jeffries from February of 2015. What happened to that Hakeem
Jeffries?
How will Hakeem Jeffries of 2026 vote? The previous two times we
know, Madam Speaker, the vote was ``no.'' However, in 2015, he said it
would be an act of malpractice to shut this Department down.
[[Page H2745]]
Let's talk about what times we are in. Some people want to think that
we are at a September 10 mentality, a pre-September 11 mentality. We
are at a heightened state of alert right now. We have actually had,
Madam Speaker, four terrorist attacks on our American homeland in the
last month.
This Department is more critical than ever, and this is when
Democrats choose to shut it down, to put Americans at risk? It is
dangerous.
It is not just cruel to these workers who are going without pay. They
testified yesterday that there are some TSA agents sleeping in their
cars because they can't afford rent. That is cruel, but it is also
dangerous to this country to shut down this Department at a time like
this.
Don't go back to a pre-September 11 mentality. This Department was
created for a reason, to protect the homeland so we don't ever have a
September 11 again.
``Never forget,'' remember that mantra? It seems like some people
want to forget, have forgotten. Maybe they have amnesia. Maybe they
need to remember that quote from the Democratic Leader back in 2015 who
said it would be political malpractice to vote to shut this agency
down.
Let's do the right thing. Let's everybody--not just Republicans
today--let's have Republicans and Democrats join together and do what
is needed to protect America's homeland. Vote ``yes'' on Congressman
Ciscomani's bill to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, get
this back open. Bring common sense back into this country.
Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote.
Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, let me just make a couple of quick points here.
I think I said earlier it was the TSA Administrator yesterday who
confirmed that the Department made the decision not to pay TSA workers.
In addition to that, the Department of Homeland Security has a $10
billion slush fund that comes from the Republicans' big, beautiful
bill. They could dip into that slush fund to pay TSA screeners if the
Trump administration chose to do so.
By the way, this is the same account that former Secretary Noem used
to buy two luxury jets for her use and to rent a horse for $20,000 so
she could ride atop it in her ads. If she can do that, then the new
Secretary could use this $10 billion slush fund to pay TSA screeners.
They have chosen not to do it. They are not shedding any tears for
those workers.
It is false. It is politics. It is a cudgel, and they are using them
and playing them for political reasons. Again, they choose not to pay
them, and so it falls to us. Yes, it falls to us.
Everyone in this room wants to pay TSA employees and Coast Guard and
FEMA. My bill does that. It actually does it. The bill before us does
not do this.
Let's be reasonable. We have done this before when parts of the
government were closed and we thought that some should open. We did it
for food inspectors because our food should be inspected so that people
can get access to it. We have done it for military pay. Why aren't we
doing it for TSA employees? We could do that today.
Do you know what. We don't need a discharge petition. We need a
Speaker of the House to take this bill and bring it to the floor, and I
would bet you dollars to doughnuts that, in fact, we would have
overwhelming support from Democrats and Republicans in passing it. Then
TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard, Cybersecurity, and Secret Service can get
paid for the jobs that they are doing.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Nevada (Mr. Amodei), the distinguished chairman of the Homeland
Security Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee and my very good
friend.
Mr. AMODEI of Nevada. Madam Speaker, Mr. Chairman, and Madam minority
leader, well, here we are again. It is going to come as a surprise to
nobody here that as the chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee,
I am rising in support of the 2026 Homeland Security appropriations
bill. Later today, we will vote on the bill for a third time, and
unfortunately it won't be the charm.
This shutdown should have never happened. The Committee negotiated a
full bill on a bicameral, bipartisan basis, and then the goalposts got
moved at the north end of the building.
Now our colleagues have taken the Department hostage over radical and
unachievable policy demands which never would have made it into the
original bill. This is a smokescreen for what we are really talking
about here: stopping immigration enforcement--stopping immigration
enforcement.
{time} 1350
Most Americans support removing dangerous criminal aliens from our
communities, stopping immigration enforcement. Most Americans support
removing those who have final orders of removal instead of stopping
immigration enforcement, but apparently there is a new priority on the
other side of the aisle.
We are in day 40 of the shutdown with no apparent end in sight, and I
find it interesting that we keep hearing about this wonderful discharge
petition, which is H.R. 7481.
Well, I have read H.R. 7481, and if it was, as we like to say in the
appropriations business, a clean bill, just funded those other ones,
you know what, I think my distinguished colleague would have a good
point. You know what is not in there--don't ask me why. I didn't draft
it--no body-worn camera money. That was one of the things everybody
agreed to, but it is not in H.R. 7481. By the way, this is an act of
oversight whether you agree with it or not.
Madam Speaker, you know what is not in H.R. 7481, all sorts of the
preexisting, previously agreed to oversight provisions. This is about
stopping immigration enforcement.
How many of us would miss the paychecks that those folks at TSA have
missed and still continue to work? Good question. Who knows what the
answer to that is.
Over 400 TSA officers have quit since the beginning of the shutdown.
I can't really blame them.
The Democrats' solution is to pick and choose which agencies at DHS
get funded to ease the pain they created to alleviate their guilt for
the hardship they have caused to our hardworking national security
professionals.
No. The right call is to fund the entire Department. We can all vote
to do that again today. The time to fund the Department of Homeland
Security is now. That is not news to anybody. That is the position.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to do the right thing: Vote
``yes'' and end this shutdown.
Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Massachusetts (Ms. Clark), the distinguished Democratic whip.
Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman
from Connecticut for all her work and for yielding.
Madam Speaker, the Republican TSA shutdown has dragged on now for
over a month. Officers haven't been paid in weeks. Hundreds have walked
off the job because they simply can't afford to work for no pay.
Travelers are stuck waiting in lines that have soared up to 9 hours
because Republicans have decided to use airport security as a political
weapon.
If they cared about what we are seeing in airports across the
country, if they really cared about the chaos they have caused, they
would end this today. House Democrats have a bill to get TSA funded, to
get these officers paid, and to get passengers where they need to go
safely.
We have tried repeatedly to bring it to the floor, and every time
Republicans have stood in the way. If any one of them are feeling a bit
of regret, they could help us force a vote. We have a discharge
petition right there on the dais. Not one Republican has signed it.
Why the obstruction? Why refuse to solve an agonizingly solvable
problem? Well, Donald Trump said it himself. He will not support a
single dollar for the TSA. He will not allow airports to get back to
normal unless we make it harder to vote and harder to register to vote,
unless we drown voters in red tape and ban mail-in voting, except for
the President.
That is what this has come down to. Our national security is being
compromised. Airports are in chaos. Officers and travelers are the ones
paying
[[Page H2746]]
the price because Donald Trump views them as nothing more than
collateral damage in his attempt to rig the midterm elections.
If there is any Republican across the aisle who is ready to choose
their constituents and the working people of this country over Trump,
if anyone in the GOP is starting to realize this is spinning out of
control, join us. Let's end this insanity. Let's pay TSA workers, and
we can have an ICE operation that works like every other police
department across the country.
Madam Speaker, let's do it today. Put the safety and security of the
American people first.
Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Arizona (Mr. Ciscomani), my good friend and the vice chair of the
Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.
Mr. CISCOMANI. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my
bill, H.R. 8029, the Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act. The name of the
bill itself is pretty self-explanatory.
As the Representative of a district with an international airport, a
border with Mexico, many Border Patrol and CBP agents, ICE, HSI, other
Homeland Security personnel, and a State that gets struck by
devastating wildfires every single year where FEMA is essential, as
well as the vice chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on
Homeland Security, I am proud to lead this legislation to ensure that
the men and women who keep our country safe are paid for their service
and that we stop putting every single American at risk by funding our
agencies responsible for our national security.
It has been said here before that this bill was drafted in a
bipartisan basis with both sides having input on it and both sides
making compromises to make sure that this bill passed and that we
funded our Department of Homeland Security.
What my friends on the other side of the aisle are doing now is
backtracking on those agreements that they made. That is unacceptable.
From TSA agents to the countless personnel working behind the scenes
to protect our airports and national security, these professionals
should never be caught in the middle of political gains, and we are
grateful for the work that they are doing day in and day out.
This legislation is about doing what is right: making sure those who
show up every day to defend our homeland can count on their paycheck
and that the American people know whose side we are on.
Anyone who votes ``no'' and against this bill in just an hour or so
should be embarrassed to go past a TSA agent at the airport on the way
here or home knowing they just voted to continue their lack of payment.
This legislation ensures full funding for the Department of Homeland
Security. Let me emphasize full funding. No area in Homeland Security
should not be funded, including TSA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency, known as CISA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
Border Patrol, U.S. Secret Service, FEMA, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Shutting down DHS over a fight of funding is wrong. Our DHS bill is
just about $97 billion. The ICE portion of this is roughly 10 percent,
so my colleagues on the other side are shutting down the entire
Department over a dispute of about 10 percent of the funding of this
bill.
Make no mistake: This is a Democrat shutdown of the Department of
Homeland Security.
Give me all or you get nothing. Give me what I want or you get
nothing. That is their posture. It is not complicated, Madam Speaker.
Today, we will see who votes to open it and who votes to close it.
They can gaslight all they want, but the reality is that when they vote
``no,'' they will be voting to not pay our personnel.
{time} 1400
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentleman from Arizona.
Mr. CISCOMANI. For 41 days now, the ongoing DHS shutdown has
disrupted critical operations, impacted the livelihoods of dedicated
personnel, and weakened key components of our national security.
This bill is a necessary step to restore stability, support our
workforce, and ensure the safety of the American people.
As of today, DHS employees have missed a full paycheck, and 400 TSA
agents have flatout quit. You can't blame them for that. Due to staff
shortages, security lines are longer, impacting travelers across the
country.
I have never supported a Government shutdown of any kind, partial or
full. The current Department of Homeland Security shutdown has been in
effect since February 14, 2026, making it the longest partial shutdown
in history, followed previously by the longest full shutdown in U.S.
history, both caused by Democrats.
Without immediate funding to DHS, these challenges will continue to
escalate, further straining our workforce and jeopardizing our national
security.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to put hardworking Americans
first by supporting my Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act.
Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Jeffries), the distinguished Democratic leader.
Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Speaker, I also thank my distinguished colleague,
the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, the Honorable
Rosa DeLauro, for yielding and for her tremendous leadership.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this Republican
budget that prioritizes ICE brutality over the American people.
We are now more than 40 days into a Trump Republican shutdown of the
Department of Homeland Security. Why are we here? Republicans are
trying to convince the American people that Democrats should be blamed.
Wait a second. Last time I checked, Republicans control the House, the
Senate, and the Presidency.
You spent the last 15 months trying to lecture the American people
that you have some historic mandate. If, in fact, that is the case,
when the Government shuts down in its entirety, or partially, it is
because Republicans have decided to shut the Government down and, in
this particular instance, to prioritize ICE brutality over the American
people.
There is legislation that is available for Republicans to bring to
the floor that would pass overwhelmingly to fund the entirety of the
Department of Homeland Security, with the exception of ICE and the
Trump extreme mass deportation machine, which has unleashed incredible
and unspeakable brutality on the American people and on law-abiding
immigrant families.
Why have Republicans chosen to prioritize ICE brutality over the
American people when it is not that complicated? We should be paying
TSA agents. Instead, Donald Trump and Republicans have sent ICE agents
to airports all across the country.
Watch this: ICE agents are sitting around, standing up, doing nothing
to address the airport crisis right now.
ICE agents, however, at these very airports, are doing nothing and
are being paid at the same period of time TSA agents who are doing the
work have been forced by Republicans to work without pay for more than
40 days. Why? Because Republicans have decided that they don't want to
get ICE under control and, instead, are forcing TSA agents to work
without pay, inconveniencing millions of Americans all across the
country and causing chaos at airports throughout the land.
Unacceptable. Enough is enough.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans can simply bring a bill to the floor to
reopen every other aspect of the Department of Homeland Security, pay
ICE agents, support FEMA, stand up for the Coast Guard, and make sure
that this country can continue to function. Instead, as we have
repeatedly seen, Republicans have decided they would rather jam their
rightwing extreme ideology down the throats of the American people.
We haven't been complicated in the point that we have made to our
Republican colleagues about what needs to happen when it comes to ICE.
We are standing on the side of the American people. Yes, we will always
support securing the border, today, tomorrow, and forever. At the same
period of time, immigration enforcement in this country should be fair,
just, and humane.
[[Page H2747]]
If you have something to say to me, you can say it right now.
That is what I thought.
Immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, it should be
just, and it should be humane. Instead, you are unleashing brutality on
the American people and using taxpayer dollars, in some instances, to
kill American citizens, like Renee Nicole Goode and Alex Pretti, a
nurse who was dedicating his life to be there for veterans who serve
this country.
We believe, in America, taxpayer dollars should be used to make life
more affordable for the American people, not brutalize or kill them--to
make life more affordable for the American people.
Here is what we have put on the table: yes, we believe dramatic
changes to ICE should be bold and transformational and meaningful, but
there are also commonsense changes vastly supported by the American
people that includes ensuring judicial warrants are required before
masked ICE agents can storm the homes of the American people and rip
them out of bed in the middle of the night.
There should be independent investigations by State and local
authorities so that ICE agents, who violently break the law, can be
held accountable, just like every other American. We believe that ICE
agents should be compelled to conduct themselves like every other cop,
police officer, or law enforcement agency.
That is not what is happening right now. We need an end to roving
patrols that are violently targeting law-abiding immigrant families and
brutalizing the American people. The masks need to come off and body
cameras need to come on.
Yes, we also need to protect sensitive locations like houses of
worship, hospitals, schools, and polling sites. These are commonsense
reforms that, at the same period of time, are bold, meaningful, and
transformational. They are designed to accomplish one chief objective:
make sure that ICE conducts itself like every other law enforcement
agency in the country, like every other cop, every other police
officer, and every other State trooper. That is not what is happening
in this country right now.
This Republican budget that is before us prioritizes ICE brutality
over the American people, and that is why House Democrats are strongly
opposed to it.
What is interesting, to make matters worse--because this is all about
priorities and choices and the choices that Republicans have made--the
priorities that Republicans are emphasizing are all hurting the
American people. They are using taxpayer dollars to brutalize them and
at the same period of time spending billions of dollars in a reckless
war of choice in the Middle East. They are dropping bombs in the Middle
East but won't spend a dime to make life more affordable for everyday
Americans? What kind of choice is that?
That is where their priorities are, Madam Speaker. It is
extraordinary to me. We think taxpayer dollars should be used to make
life better for the American people, and there are a variety of ways to
do it. We should be focused on that because America is too expensive
right now.
Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. Costs aren't going
down. They have gone up. Housing costs are out of control. Health
insurance premiums are out of control. Grocery bills are out of
control. Childcare costs are out of control. Utility bills are out of
control. America is too expensive, and it is getting more expensive
because of failed Republican policies.
Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. Costs aren't going
down, Madam Speaker, in the United States of America.
{time} 1410
Costs are going up as a direct result of failed Republican policies.
The Trump tariffs have increased costs on everyday Americans by
thousands of dollars per year.
Republicans have refused to extend the Affordable Care Act tax
credits. As a result, more than 20 million Americans are experiencing
dramatically increased health insurance premiums, making it
unaffordable for everyday Americans, working-class Americans, and
middle-class Americans to go see a doctor when they need one. That is
policy violence that Republicans are inflicting on the American people.
Republicans have launched a reckless war of choice in the Middle
East, dropping bombs, spending billions of dollars, but they can't find
a dime to make life more affordable for the American people. What kind
of choice is that?
Republicans continue to lean in to their one big, ugly bill, which
Democrats will continue to expose. It is policy violence being
inflicted on the American people.
In that one big, ugly bill, Republicans ripped healthcare away from
more than 14 million Americans. That is what Republicans have done. It
was a $1 trillion cut, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.
My Republican colleagues are choosing ICE brutality over the healthcare
of the American people.
In the same period of time, in that one big, ugly bill, which every
single Democrat in the House and the Senate opposed on behalf of the
American people, in that one big, ugly bill, Republicans cut
nutritional assistance by $186 billion, the largest cut to SNAP in
American history.
Republicans literally ripped food from the mouths of hungry children,
seniors, and veterans, and then turned around in that same bill and
gave the Department of Homeland Security--watch this--$191 billion,
including creating a $75 billion slush fund for ICE to unleash
brutality and violence on the American people, to kill American
citizens in at least three instances, and to violently target law-
abiding immigrant families.
This is policy violence that Republicans are inflicting on the
American people. Then, they present this budget in front of us today
that again prioritizes ICE brutality over standing up and making life
more affordable for the American people?
These are challenging times that we are living through here in the
United States of America. Republicans are unleashing extremism and
policy violence each and every day of this Presidency. These are
challenging times in the United States of America, but help is on the
way. We are seeing that in elections all across the country, including,
most recently, in the district where Mar-a-Lago sits.
Help is on the way, and so I promise to the American people that we
are going to fight as hard as we can. We are going to show up, stand
up, and speak up for the American people.
We will lower the high cost of living. We will fix our broken
healthcare system. We will clean up corruption. We will get ICE under
control. We will stop this reckless war of choice in the Middle East.
We will end this national nightmare. One day soon, we will continue
America's long, necessary, and majestic march toward a more perfect
Union.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Alabama (Mr. Strong), vice chair of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and
Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations.
Mr. STRONG. Mr. Speaker, did I just hear the Member say ``fair, just,
and humane''?
The Democrats allowed 15 million illegal aliens to enter into this
country under the last administration, and now they don't want to fund
Homeland Security. Connect the dots. They are begging for chaos.
As a member of both the Appropriations Committee and the Homeland
Security Committee, I rise today in strong support of the Pay Our
Homeland Defenders Act, to ensure that our frontline personnel are paid
and that our Nation is secure.
While I stand here, the men and women who protect our borders, secure
our airports, patrol our coastlines, and respond to disasters are being
asked to do their jobs without certainty and stability. In many cases,
they are being asked to do it without pay, all because Democrats want
to block the deportation of violent criminals who are here illegally.
This is unacceptable. Our Nation faces growing and rapidly evolving
threats. We are confronting increasingly aggressive adversaries who
have built a global network of proxies, terrorist organizations, and
illicit financing operations designed to target the United States and
our allies.
[[Page H2748]]
On top of that, transnational criminal groups and emerging
technologies are being exploited by bad actors to conduct surveillance,
smuggle contraband, and enable criminal activity. These are not distant
threats. They are real threats, and they demand a fully functional
Department of Homeland Security to confront these threats.
America will soon host the World Cup, the Olympic Games, and our
Nation's 250th anniversary, events that will bring millions of visitors
and place unprecedented demands on our security infrastructure. Yet,
right now, airports across the country are seeing a surge in TSO
callouts.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Meuser). The time of the gentleman has
expired.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the
gentleman from Alabama.
Mr. STRONG. Just yesterday, during a Homeland Security Committee
hearing, the TSA Acting Administrator warned that newly hired screeners
will not be trained in time for the 2026 World Cup because of staffing
shortages. This alarms every single one of us because it means that we
are knowingly walking toward a major international event without the
staffing necessary to secure it.
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Neguse).
Mr. NEGUSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for her
incredible leadership during such tumultuous times.
Mr. Speaker, I had not intended to speak. I was watching this debate
unfold from my office in Rayburn and could not resist the temptation to
come down to the floor to call out the clear intellectual dishonesty
that we have heard for the better part of the last hour from my
Republican colleagues.
Spare us these crocodile tears.
Let me read you two headlines, Mr. Speaker: ``[Ted] Cruz proposes
splitting ICE from Homeland Security funding bill to end airport
chaos.'' Another headline: ``Republican Senator Says Trump Killed
Bipartisan Deal to Pay TSA workers `by the End of the Week.' ''
Mr. Speaker, you have multiple Republican Senators saying what we all
know to be true, which is that Republicans refuse to come to the table
and pass a bill that is sitting at the Clerk's desk that the ranking
member has introduced to pay TSA workers, to pay folks at FEMA, and to
ensure that public servants working on cybersecurity and at the Coast
Guard are fully compensated. We could do that today. Republicans refuse
to do so.
That is not me talking. That is Ted Cruz talking. That is Senator
John Kennedy talking. Every day, another Republican concedes to the
reality that has befallen all of us.
I would implore my colleagues that if they truly care about ending
this crisis at our airports, pass our bill to fund TSA. Do that today.
{time} 1420
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Missouri (Mr. Alford), my very good friend and the vice chair of the
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veteran Affairs, and Related
Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations.
Mr. ALFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I feel as if I need to start with an apology to the
minority leader. I wrongly laughed out loud when I heard him say in the
well of the floor of the House of Representatives: ``Yes, we will
always support securing the border--today, tomorrow, and forever.'' It
was an uncontrollable laugh.
This is what started all of this: an administration that did not care
about securing our border and the Democrats who backed him up, along
with Alejandro Mayorkas, who let 15 million illegal aliens into our
great Nation to cause chaos, not to be a part of the fabric of America
but to tear apart the fabric of America.
This is the stupidest shutdown in U.S. history, Mr. Speaker. Why do I
say that? I will quote the ranking member from a press release January
20, the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), my good friend:
``The Homeland Security funding bill is more than just ICE. If we allow
a lapse in the funding, TSA agents will be forced to work without pay,
FEMA assistance could be delayed, and the U.S. Coast Guard will be
adversely affected. All while ICE continues functioning without any
change in their operations due to $75 billion it received in the One
Big Beautiful Bill.''
That prediction came true, and now we have chaos in America--chaos
that the Democrats want and promote. Airports are backed up. TSA agents
are working without pay. Some are sleeping in their cars and going on
the weekends to food banks in their communities to get food to feed
their families.
Democrats are playing political games. Instead of protecting American
families, every day that they keep the DHS unfunded is another day that
the ranking member's prediction comes true in America. This must end
today. Today, for the third time, House Republicans will vote to fully
fund the Department of Homeland Security.
Let's get back on track. Let's pay the people who protect you, who
protect me, who protect the ranking member, and who protect the
minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished ranking member of the
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.
Mr. HOYER. The good news, Mr. Speaker, is that we are paying the
people who protect us, and this side will not admit it. DHS is getting
86 percent. ICE is 86 percent funded. CBP is 85 percent funded.
Don't tell the American people, Mr. Speaker, that they are not
getting paid. They are getting paid, and you know it. If you say
otherwise, you are misrepresenting the facts to the American people.
Now, somebody said ``our bill.'' It is not our bill. It is your bill.
Most of you voted for this bill and every nickel that we are asking you
to vote again on, because this was a compromised bill. All the funding
that was in Ms. DeLauro's bill was a bipartisan agreement, all of it.
That is not a political game. That is saying: We will take it.
What you are saying is: Unless you take everything, we are not going
to give you anything. That is what you are saying.
Mr. Speaker, that is not how we legislate in this House. We have to
compromise.
Now, we have some problems because you tell us if you don't allow ICE
agents to break into homes without a warrant, we will not fund TSA, we
will not fund the Coast Guard, we will not fund CISA. That is what you
are saying, but you are trying to pretend to the American people that
it is somehow us, who are ready to vote for 98 percent of the bill, but
you say: No, either all or nothing.
Think about it honestly. You are shutting down TSA. The American
people don't care who is at fault, so we are both trying to say the
other guy is at fault. But today we could come together, all--at least
400 of us--and open TSA tonight. You won't do it because you want
masked people arresting people on the streets of America without any
accountability.
That is what this is about. Democrats want accountability. They want
to honor the Constitution. They want to honor the laws of the United
States. They want to honor the norms of police activity in this
country.
That is what makes us different. We talk about an exceptional Nation.
That is why we are exceptional, and that is why Democrats want to make
sure those protections for the American people are included in this
bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the
gentleman from Maryland.
Mr. HOYER. Ladies and gentlemen, let's be honest with one another.
This is a tactical argument. You are afraid that if you separate out
those two instances of the Border Patrol and ICE, you are afraid that
you may have to honor what the American people want, and that is
constraints. That is what you are against: constraints on illegal
actions by police officers.
The American people are hoping that you will support constraints and
support a bill, our bill. Republicans and Democrats put that bill
together that
[[Page H2749]]
Ms. DeLauro has introduced. Open up the government and open it up
today.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks
to the Chair.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana
(Mr. Baird).
Mr. BAIRD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the extraordinary men and
women of the Department of Homeland Security. At a time of complex and
evolving threats, our commitment to homeland security must be
unwavering.
Despite this reality, some of my colleagues continue to block
funding. This does not make us safer.
Thousands of employees at FEMA, TSA, and CISA are working without
pay. These are people who save lives, prevent attacks, support
communities in crisis, and safeguard the systems that keep our country
running. These personnel serving in high-risk roles face an
unacceptable stress of doing their jobs without the resources they
need.
Supporting Homeland Security is not about ideology. It is about
protecting the American people and ensuring our Nation is nearly and
evenly taken care of during these threat periods.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to rise above partisanship and
prove that the security of the United States will always come first. I
urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, let's be clear: ICE and CBP are being paid. TSA is not.
That is what President Trump and the Republicans have decided.
I am delighted to hear about this newfound concern that my Republican
colleagues have about wanting to fund these agencies. I think it is
very clear: Where were they when the administration proposed
eliminating FEMA entirely? Where were they when the President proposed
cutting cybersecurity by $500 million? Where were they when the
President unilaterally eliminated collective bargaining rights for TSA
workers? They were silent, not one word.
Spare me, spare all of us, and spare the American people these
crocodile tears which you shed about people that you cut. Republicans
cut a thousand people. Republicans allowed Elon Musk to cut a thousand
people from cybersecurity and then sat around saying nothing. So,
again, spare us all.
{time} 1430
Now, let me just say this to you: The chair of the Homeland Security
Subcommittee said a little while ago that what the Democrats were
offering were radical and unachievable reforms.
Let's take a look at the radical and unachievable reforms: arrest
warrant requirements; prohibit the detention and detainment of U.S.
citizens; Fourth Amendment protections; search and seizure protections;
officer ID requirements; no mask but badges like other law enforcement
agencies; prohibit immigration enforcement at sensitive locations such
as schools, churches, and medical facilities; end racial profiling;
restrictions on the use of force to prevent future deadly incidents
like those we saw in Minnesota; prohibiting the Department from
withholding evidence for use of force-related investigations;
protecting Member access to all ICE facilities, including new
facilities that they are buying with $45 billion that they received in
the big, beautiful bill; and, yes, mandatory body-worn cameras.
These policies have to be built into law. That is what needs to
happen here. I have offered--and I did this a month ago, more than a
month ago now--I said plainly speaking--because there are serious
disagreements about ICE and about CBP, serious disagreements.
Mr. Speaker, 70 percent of the United States, the people in this
country, believe that these agencies need to be brought under control
and that we need protections. Let's hammer that out. Let's hammer it
out on its own.
Why do we want to hold hostage the men and women who are doing their
job every single day? They are not asking for more. They are asking to
be paid for the work and the service that they give to all of us. Why
are we holding them hostage and deliberately doing so with TSA agents?
As I said, ICE and CBP, they are being paid. CBP has $65 billion. ICE
has $75 billion.
Our people are hurting. They need to get help.
The President said $500 million cuts to cybersecurity. That is what
he said in his budget. No one blinked an eye when he said he was
cutting 1,000 workers from cybersecurity. Now we have this newfound
worry about cybersecurity? Again, spare us.
There is a very simple solution to this.
Let us take the agencies on which we have mutual agreement. It is a
reasonable middle ground between two sides of this discussion. We don't
want to provide more funding for ICE or CBP without the binding policy
changes that protect our communities.
Republicans are opposed to many of these changes and want to fund ICE
and CBP without any new protections. Neither side disagrees over
funding TSA, FEMA, Coast Guard, or other parts. What we are caught up
on is whether or not we can deal with ICE and CBP separately or if we
have to fund everything all at once.
I personally do not believe it must be all or nothing. That is not
the spirit of compromise that allows us to move forward and to create
policy changes and initiatives in this Nation.
My proposal funds the parts of DHS that we all agree on. It funds TSA
so they would get paid. They can pay their bills, stop sleeping in
their cars, and avoid evictions. We can put an end to the long lines at
airport security. It funds FEMA so we can replenish the disaster relief
fund. It ensures that our communities are prepared for the next natural
disaster. It fully funds cybersecurity so we are equipped to prevent or
respond to any threat that comes our way. It separates ICE and CBP for
the time being, not forever, for the time being, so we can negotiate on
that issue without holding the rest of the Department hostage.
As I said earlier, I listened to the debates. I believe some of my
Republican colleagues are under the impression that the proposal is
designed to permanently shutter ICE and CBP. That is not true. We have
to pass bills to fund those agencies. We will do so when we can come
together on an agreement that establishes those protections against
abuse, which the majority of Americans support.
There is no reason for us to keep the rest of the Department shut
down. It is an easy solution if we choose to take it. This is about
political will and a choice. Quite frankly, we do not need a discharge
petition. The Speaker of the House could call up this bill at any
moment, place it on the floor, and it would pass overwhelmingly. But
there is a discharge petition. If we have to try to get it to the
floor, it would be my hope that several of my Republican colleagues
would find that this is a reasonable solution, a way to accommodate
both sides of the argument.
Let's come to a compromise on what we can do with ICE and CBP, but
let us fund the agencies that so deserve to get paid for the job that
they are doing for the American people. It should be up to us to do our
job for the American people, and today our job is to bring up this
compromise and allow us to fund these agencies and to continue to
negotiate about ICE and CBP.
That is the responsible thing for all of us to do today. It can be
done, and I would just say one last thing. What we are doing here today
is what I said at the outset. This is not three times is the charm.
This bill has nowhere to go, nowhere to go, and it is an argument that
has failed in the past. It will fail again.
Let's fund the agencies that deserve our support. Let's make sure we
get the kinds of protections for the American people and ICE and CBP.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I begin by thanking my friend for a spirited debate. We have
certainly had one today. But to me the facts of this situation seem
pretty clear.
The House has done its job twice already. It has fully funded the
Department of Homeland Security, and if we are fortunate, we will fully
fund it again in a few minutes with I hope a bipartisan vote, but we
will see about that.
Frankly, we sent that legislation over to the Senate, and to be fair,
a majority of the United States Senate
[[Page H2750]]
has multiple times voted to keep the government open. A majority, a
bipartisan majority, of the United States Senate has voted to keep the
government open.
Now, the Senate operates differently from us, Mr. Speaker. As most
Americans know, they have a rule that is not in the Constitution. It is
not in law. It is just simply a Senate rule that says they have to
reach 60. So what we have is a situation where a minority of Senate
Democrats have repeatedly voted to shut down the government.
{time} 1440
That is even though we sent them a bill that they agreed to vote for
before we sent it over there in the first place. Then, they changed
their mind and broke their word. They have done that repeatedly in the
Senate, not in the House. That is in the Senate.
We now have a situation where a majority of both Chambers have
repeatedly said that we would like to open the government. I know my
friends would like to open parts of the government. I heard that
argument, and I didn't agree with it back when we were in the majority
during the ObamaCare debates. We brought measure after measure on the
floor to open part of the government. Surely we can vote for defense.
Surely we can vote for this or that. Our Democrat friends said, no, we
should vote to fund all the government. I actually agree with that, and
we compromised there.
There seems to be, on this floor, a belief that the President has not
been willing to compromise. That is not the case. The President, Mr.
Speaker, has changed leadership at the Department of Homeland Security.
The President, in negotiation with the Democrats in the Senate, has
repeatedly made concessions.
Frankly, it is the Democrats in the Senate who keep moving the
goalposts. They just like the fight. They don't care who is not getting
a paycheck. They don't care who is not meeting a mortgage payment. They
don't care who is not meeting a car payment. They don't care who is
sleeping in a car. They just want to score a political point.
They want to score it even though the majority of both Chambers have
passed legislation to keep the government open and even though the
President of the United States has made considerable concessions in
their direction.
That is stupidity. That is irresponsibility. It is reckless, and it
is dangerous. To do it at a time when the country is engaged in
military operations overseas with an adversary that is the largest
sponsor of state terrorism and that would do anything it could to hurt
Americans is the height of irresponsibility.
Mr. Speaker, I just simply hope that in this Chamber today we do what
we have done twice more and give the Senate another opportunity. I know
there are negotiations going on over there. Let's just do the right
thing: Fund the government.
The President has shown my friends that he is willing to make
changes. He did that in Minnesota in terms of leadership, and he has
done it in terms of the Department itself. That normally would be
enough.
I would ask my colleagues to look within themselves to see if this is
really worth it, if running this risk for 330 million Americans is
really worth it, if making 100,000 people miss another paycheck is
really worth it.
I don't know what political gain my friends think they might be
getting out of this. I don't think it is worth it, so I would just ask
us to do the responsible thing, to pass what was a bipartisan,
negotiated product, yet again, in this House, send it over to the
Senate, point out the concessions that the President has made in good
faith, finally get the government up and operational, and making
changes in leadership. My goodness, what more do you want?
That is because it doesn't matter what he does, they want something
else. That tells me that we are dealing with somebody who doesn't want
to be dealt with in a rational and fair manner.
I think we have done that in this body in the entire appropriations
process. That is why most of these bills have passed this Chamber, most
of them with strong bipartisan support. That is why, in the United
States Senate, we thought we had a deal, but the Democrats in the
Senate changed it. That is why the President, I think, probably has
tried multiple times to move in the direction of his critics, yet they
still won't accept it.
Again, I would just ask to do the right thing. Let's fund the
Government of the United States. Let's get about our business. Let's
make sure that, in a very dangerous moment in our history, our people
have every protection that we can provide them. Let's not wait for
something bad to happen so that we can come to our senses. Let's do it
today.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 1131, the previous question is ordered
on the bill.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
motion to recommit
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to
recommit.
The Clerk read as follows:
Ms. DeLauro of Connecticut moves to recommit the bill H.R.
8029 to the Committee on Appropriations.
The material previously referred to by Ms. DeLauro is as follows:
Ms. DeLauro of Connecticut moves to recommit the bill H.R.
8029 to the Committee on Appropriations with instructions to
report the same back to the House forthwith, with the
following amendment:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
provisions of H.R. 7481, as introduced in the House of
Representatives on February 11, 2026.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XIX, the
previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit.
The question is on the motion to recommit.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
Proceedings will resume on questions previously postponed. Votes will
be taken in the following order:
Adoption of H. Res. 1128;
The motion to recommit H.R. 8029; and
Passage of H.R. 8029.
The first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote.
Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, remaining electronic votes will be
conducted as 5-minute votes.
____________________