Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026
Floor Speech
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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
There are two paths before us today: one if this bill passes and another if it fails. If we take the first path, if the bill passes, here is what will happen: The Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, State, Treasury, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development will be fully funded through the end of September.
The Democratic wins we secured in this bill will be locked in. We will reject $163 billion in cuts to public services proposed by President Trump. We will increase funding for the National Institutes of Health biomedical research by $450 million. We will provide over $66 billion for rental assistance programs.
We turn back in the Labor-HHS bill 47 programs that the administration had slotted for elimination. In the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, 24 programs were slotted for elimination. We reversed that.
We will increase funding for childcare and Head Start by $170 million, secure an additional $5.5 billion for humanitarian assistance, and boost funding for Federal Public Defenders by $350 million.
We will establish meaningful constraints on the Trump Administration's ability to abuse the budget process, take expansive power over Federal funding, Federal spending away from Russ Vought, and reclaim it for the Congress. If not, the President and Russ Vought will be in charge of the funds, and we will have no say.
At the same time, funding for the Department of Homeland Security will continue at its current level for 10 days. It is important to note that is about 6 legislative days. If we do not pass another bill by next Friday, the Department will shut down. Having passed the other full-year funding bills today, every other department would remain open.
If we are not satisfied with where we are in those 10 days--6 legislative days--we can withhold our votes without jeopardizing all of the important Democratic priorities I just laid out and more. We will be in the strongest possible position to fight for and win the drastic changes we all know are needed to protect our communities: judicial warrant requirements, no more detentions or deportations of United States citizens, an enforceable code of conduct, taking off the masks, putting the badges on, requiring body cameras, and real accountability for the egregious abuses we have seen.
If we choose the second path, however, if this bill does not pass, none of that happens. Instead, we enter a prolonged government shutdown. Workers across broad swaths of the Federal Government would be furloughed, public services would be scaled back, paychecks would be missed.
My Republican colleagues will only talk about those not getting paychecks--and you can hear it already--instead of my Republican colleagues having to defend the Department of Homeland Security with what is happening across the country with these lawless, reckless, out- of-control agencies marauding over our cities and towns and striking people where they work and where they live.
Instead of increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health, new research grants would be frozen, interrupting efforts to treat and prevent deadly diseases.
Instead of providing funding for rental assistance, payments would be delayed and families would face the prospect of eviction.
Instead of increasing funding for Head Start, Health and Human Services would be unable to issue new grants, jeopardizing access to early education for countless children across this country.
Instead of reclaiming Congress' power of the purse, we would concede even more discretion to Russ Vought and the White House to abuse the budget process for their own partisan gain, which they would certainly exploit, as we have seen.
In 10 days--6 legislative days--we would be in the same place with regard to Homeland Security. We would have had the bill passed; except we will have lost all of the Democratic priorities I have laid out.
I have no illusions about ICE and CBP. We must rein in these rogue agencies. We need to protect our communities. We need to protect the people and the children in our communities. We must have accountability for the egregious abuses we have seen. It is understandable the rage and the fear in the outrageousness of what these activities have been all over this country.
The only way we can get these things is to fight for them, win them, and let the public know what we are fighting for. Passing these five, full-year funding bills today puts us in the best position to win that fight over the next 10 days--the 6 legislative days--and beyond, if need be.
I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this bill today and continue to fight to protect our communities in the coming weeks.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished ranking member of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Maryland.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), the distinguished ranking member of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case), a member of the Appropriations Committee.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Hawaii.
Mr. Speaker, I just would outline for a moment the impacts of the failure to pass the five bipartisan, House-passed spending measures and what that would do.
For military personnel, an extended shutdown will harm both military and civilian personnel at DOD who could not legally receive pay during a shutdown.
Federal courts would no longer have funding to sustain full-paid operations, and the courts can only carry out limited functions.
The Community Development Financial Institutions, if that lapses, the money will be withheld in funding for almost 1,500 credit unions, banks, and community financial institutions.
The SBA would be unable to approve $170 million per day in loan assistance.
For the Social Security Administration, thousands of Social Security Administration employees would likely be furloughed, there would be delays on the SSA's 800 number and limited hours of operation.
At the National Institutes of Health, it would freeze funding for new research grants, including research on cancer, Alzheimer's, ALS, heart disease, diabetes, kidneys, mental health, maternal mortality, infectious diseases, genetic diseases, and the list goes on and on.
Community health centers would receive only partial funding to provide healthcare services for low-income patients.
For Head Start, if funding lapses, thousands of low-income children would be at risk to losing access to Head Start programs.
Senior nutrition grants are at risk, Meals on Wheels as well as congregate meals.
Worker protection agencies would likely furlough Federal staff who are responsible for investigating wage theft and safety and health hazards in high-risk areas.
That is just a small smattering of the impact of the failure to pass these five bipartisan bills, where we had 341 ``yes'' votes in this Chamber not 3 weeks ago.
Now, some might say: Well, what do you think about what ICE and the CBP are doing? I am not unaware of that. I share the anger. I share the outrage of what they have done. Yes, it is Minnesota, but it is also what is happening all over this country.
People are being beat up. They are being pulled out of schools, pulled out of churches, and people are so frightened to death that they carry their passports with them. They are American citizens, and they are frightened.
What have we proposed in this area? This is when we were doing the appropriations bill: Prohibition on detaining or deporting U.S. citizens, reducing funding for ICE, prohibition on the use of Border Patrol and CBP officers, a requirement for DHS law enforcement to use body-worn cameras, require reporting on the use of force, training standards--they should be trained in de-escalation, and that is what ought to be happening instead of fomenting escalation--requiring ICE warrants, and there are other things.
I might add, just so that the people on the committee here understand, in June of 2025, the House Committee on Appropriations advanced the fiscal year 2026 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. It included bipartisan reforms and safeguards designed to protect U.S. citizens and vulnerable communities.
However, when the bill was renegotiated in January 2026, these critical reforms were removed. Democrats and Republicans voted for these reforms, and they must do it again.
The list goes on: No funds if DHS violates the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment; no funds for detaining and deporting U.S. citizens; no prohibition on video recording for ICE. This was all passed in the Committee on Appropriations and then stripped out.
The fact of the matter is we need to focus like a laser in these 10 days--6 legislative days--on DHS. Let's not have to focus on five agencies where there is agreement on what we do. There is agreement on our side of the aisle. Despite what the press may report, there is not a single Democrat in this body who believes what ICE and the CBP are doing is acceptable. I cannot believe that a number of my Republican colleagues don't feel the same way.
Let us focus in on the Department of Homeland Security. Let the public understand the nature of the fight. Quite honestly, let my Republican colleagues at the administration defend the Department of Homeland Security and its lawlessness and recklessness when the majority of this country are seeing what they are doing.
We all want the same thing. We want to keep our constituents safe. We want to stop the violence in our streets. We want to end chaos in our communities that these out-of-control agencies have created.
The simple truth is we have a better chance of imposing real constraints on ICE and the CBP if this bill passes than if it fails. We have a better chance at securing justice, justice for Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and all of those people all over this country who have been harassed, who have been beaten, who have been taken out of their homes, 5-year-old children being detained. That is the reality. Nobody wants that.
However, we have a better chance of justice for these folks if this bill passes rather than if it fails. We have a better chance of putting an end to what has become a season of terror if this bill passes than if it fails.
I am asking my colleagues to understand the moment and meet the moment. We have an opportunity over these next several days to lay out the arguments against what the Department of Homeland Security, its leadership, and what this administration has wrought on the American people.
We serve in this body to be responsive to the American people. They are clamoring, and they are crying out for help. We can help them with passing five bills that meet their needs, and we can help them by gaining control and focusing our ire and our anger over an agency that is run, in my view, by incompetence, by lies, and by terror. That is not who we are. Those are not the values of the American people. Those are not the values of the people in this body.
Everyone sees what is happening. We can't let go of the gains that have been made that make a difference in people's lives, in the education of their kids and their health and their safety, of looking at substance abuse and opioid addiction and how we can deal with that, transportation, rent assistance, homeless assistance, maternal mortality, childcare, and Head Start.
There are two paths that we face today. One: If we pass the bills and see what our opportunities are to make a difference and make changes in an agency so needed to be changed--and I do believe we all recognize that--and at the same time to save the American people. We understand the crisis of the cost of living that you have.
We are there to defend you and your family and to make life and make government work on your behalf. That is our responsibility. I view that as my responsibility as the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. This is the way our government functions, and we have a better chance to end this season of terror.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 217, nays 214, not voting 1, as follows: [Roll No. 53] YEAS--217 Aderholt Alford Allen Amodei (NV) Arrington Babin Bacon Baird Balderson Barr Barrett Baumgartner Bean (FL) Begich Bentz Bergman Bice Biggs (SC) Bilirakis Bishop Bost Bresnahan Buchanan Calvert Carey Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Case Ciscomani Cline Cloud Clyburn Clyde Cole Collins Comer Courtney Crank Crawford Cuellar Davids (KS) Davidson Davis (NC) De La Cruz DeLauro DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Downing Dunn (FL) Edwards Ellzey Emmer Estes Evans (CO) Ezell Fallon Fedorchak Feenstra Finstad Fischbach Fitzgerald Fitzpatrick Fleischmann Flood Fong Foster Foxx Franklin, Scott Fry Fulcher Garbarino Gimenez Golden (ME) Goldman (TX) Gonzales, Tony Gooden Gosar Gottheimer Graves Griffith Grothman Guest Guthrie Hageman Hamadeh (AZ) Haridopolos Harrigan Harris (MD) Harris (NC) Harshbarger Hern (OK) Higgins (LA) Hill (AR) Himes Hinson Houchin Hoyer Hudson Huizenga Hunt Hurd (CO) Issa Jack Jackson (TX) James Johnson (LA) Johnson (SD) Jordan Joyce (OH) Joyce (PA) Kaptur Kean Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) Kennedy (UT) Kiggans (VA) Kiley (CA) Kim Knott Kustoff LaHood LaLota Langworthy Larsen (WA) Latta Lawler Lee (FL) Letlow Loudermilk Lucas Luttrell Mace Mackenzie Malliotakis Maloy Mann Mast McCaul McClain McClintock McCormick McDowell McGuire Messmer Meuser Miller (IL) Miller (OH) Miller (WV) Miller-Meeks Moolenaar Moore (AL) Moore (NC) Moore (UT) Moore (WV) Moran Murphy Nehls Newhouse Norman Nunn (IA) Obernolte Onder Owens Palmer Patronis Perez Peters Pfluger Reschenthaler Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rose Rouzer Rulli Rutherford Salazar Scalise Schmidt Schrier Scott, Austin Scott, David Sessions Sewell Shreve Simpson Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smucker Stauber Stefanik Steil Strong Stutzman Taylor Tenney Thompson (PA) Tiffany Turner (OH) Valadao Van Drew Van Duyne Van Epps Van Orden Veasey Wagner Walberg Weber (TX) Webster (FL) Westerman Wied Williams (TX) Wilson (SC) Wittman Womack Yakym Zinke NAYS--214 Adams Aguilar Amo Ansari Auchincloss Balint Barragan Beatty Bell Bera Beyer Biggs (AZ) Boebert Bonamici Boyle (PA) Brecheen Brown Brownley Budzinski Burchett Burlison Bynum Cammack Carbajal Carson Carter (LA) Casar Casten Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Cherfilus-McCormick Chu Cisneros Clark (MA) Clarke (NY) Cleaver Cohen Conaway Correa Costa Craig Crane Crockett Crow Davis (IL) Dean (PA) DeGette DelBene Deluzio DeSaulnier Dexter Dingell Doggett Donalds Elfreth Escobar Espaillat Evans (PA) Fields Figures Fine Fletcher Foushee Frankel, Lois Friedman Frost Garamendi Garcia (CA) Garcia (IL) Garcia (TX) Gill (TX) Gillen Goldman (NY) Gomez Gonzalez, V. Goodlander Gray Green, Al (TX) Grijalva Harder (CA) Hayes Horsford Houlahan Hoyle (OR) Huffman Ivey Jackson (IL) Jacobs Jayapal Jeffries Johnson (GA) Johnson (TX) Kamlager-Dove Keating Kelly (IL) Kennedy (NY) Khanna Krishnamoorthi Landsman Larson (CT) Latimer Lee (NV) Lee (PA) Leger Fernandez Levin Liccardo Lieu Lofgren Luna Lynch Magaziner Mannion Massie Matsui McBath McBride McClain Delaney McClellan McCollum McDonald Rivet McGarvey McGovern McIver Meeks Menefee Menendez Meng Mfume Mills Min Moore (WI) Morelle Morrison Moskowitz Moulton Mrvan Mullin Nadler Neal Neguse Norcross Ocasio-Cortez Ogles Olszewski Omar Pallone Panetta Pappas Pelosi Perry Pettersen Pingree Pocan Pou Pressley Quigley Ramirez Randall Raskin Riley (NY) Rivas Ross Roy Ruiz Ryan Salinas Sanchez Scanlon Schakowsky Schneider Scholten Schweikert Scott (VA) Self Sherman Simon Smith (WA) Sorensen Soto Spartz Stansbury Stanton Steube Stevens Strickland Subramanyam Suozzi Swalwell Sykes Takano Thanedar Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Timmons Titus Tlaib Tokuda Tonko Torres (CA) Torres (NY) Trahan Tran Underwood Vargas Vasquez Velazquez Vindman Walkinshaw Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Coleman Whitesides Williams (GA) Wilson (FL) NOT VOTING--1 Crenshaw
Mr. TIMMONS changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Mr. DAVIDSON and Ms. MACE changed their vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the motion to concur was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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