House leaders face dicey math to clear major spending package

Aidan Quigley, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 2, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson will try to clear a $1.2 trillion spending package in the House this week despite mounting Democratic opposition and fractures within his own GOP conference.

The five-bill fiscal 2026 package, which passed the Senate on Friday, punts on full-year funding for the Homeland Security Department as lawmakers try to negotiate tighter restrictions on federal immigration agents in the wake of two fatal shootings in Minneapolis last month. Instead, it would extend Homeland Security funding for only two weeks, through Feb. 13.

Johnson, R-La., said Sunday that he expects to clear the package for President Donald Trump’s signature by Tuesday. But he said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has made it clear to him that Democrats would not provide the wide support for the bill needed to clear it under suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority vote.

“Because of the conversation I had with Hakeem Jeffries, I know that we’ve got to pass a rule and probably do this mostly on our own,” Johnson said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “I think that’s very unfortunate.”

Adopting a rule for the package, typically a partisan task, comes with its own hurdles as Johnson tries to hold together his fragile GOP majority, which now has a one-vote buffer on party-line votes. The House Rules Committee is set to meet Monday afternoon to consider the revised package.

The Senate overwhelmingly voted 71-29 on Friday to advance the package featuring five full-year spending bills — Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Financial Services, National Security-State, and Transportation-HUD — along with the two-week extension for Homeland Security to give lawmakers more time to negotiate.

Just under half the Democratic caucus, or 23 senators, backed the measure in that chamber. But the deal, negotiated between the White House and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., has not received a warm welcome among House Democrats.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said on “Meet the Press” that he is a “firm no,” and he wants to repeal the $75 billion in funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement received in the GOP’s 2025 budget reconciliation law.

“I just don’t see how, in good conscience, Democrats can vote for continuing ICE funding when they’re killing American citizens, when there’s no provision to repeal the tripling of the budget (for ICE),” said Khanna, a prominent voice in his party’s Progressive Caucus. “I hope my colleagues will say no.”

Jeffries, speaking Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week,” said he didn’t want to speak for his caucus until they had a chance to discuss the situation later in the day.

“But the one thing that we’ve said publicly is that we need a robust path toward dramatic reform” at the Homeland Security Department, Jeffries said.

On the caucus call later on Sunday, a substantial number of House Democrats appeared to express opposition to the Senate-passed funding package, though several voiced support, including some senior appropriators.

Slim margin for error

After the swearing-in of Texas Democrat Christian Menefee, who won a special election in Texas Saturday, the Republicans’ majority will drop to 218-214, meaning Johnson can afford to lose only one GOP vote and still adopt the rule.

Some conservatives are likely to hold out their support for the rule, as the House already passed a full-year Homeland Security bill that will now be reopened for further negotiations.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., has demanded that the rule for debate on the spending package include legislation that would require proof of citizenship for those registering to vote in federal elections. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a Rules Committee member, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced a new version of that bill last week that would add a photo ID requirement for voters.

“This is my price for a yes vote,” Luna wrote on X.

Similarly, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., wrote on X that the Senate needed to take action on Roy’s bill, an earlier version of which passed the House in April. “DHS must be funded,” he added.

“Action items for this week. No modding out,” wrote Ogles, one of a few Republicans who withheld their votes on the rule for debate on the initial House-passed spending package last week before finally voting for it.

But Johnson projected confidence Sunday that Republicans would ultimately come on board with Trump’s backing.

“I don’t understand why anybody would have a problem with this,” the speaker said on the “Fox News Sunday” program. “Remember … the bills have already been passed. We’re going to do it again. It’s a formality at this point.”

Homeland compromise elusive

Even more difficult than clearing the package out of the House will be negotiating a full-year Homeland Security bill ahead of the new Feb. 13 deadline for that agency, if the package is enacted.

Jeffries said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Democrats need “a robust path toward dramatic reform.”

“The Trump administration must set forth an ironclad path that dramatically reforms ICE and other DHS agencies that the American people know have become lawless and heavy-handed,” Jeffries said in a Saturday statement. “It is in the best interest of the country that this is done before Congress reconvenes on Monday evening and legislation is brought to the House floor.”

The Democrats’ priorities include banning masks for agents, requiring agents to wear body cameras and carry IDs, imposing stricter warrant requirements, a uniform code of conduct and independent investigations of incidents.

Republicans have pushed back on several of those ideas, complicating chances for reaching a compromise Homeland Security spending bill.

Johnson said on Fox that requiring agents to carry IDs and remove masks would “create further danger” and said the votes would not be there in the House for such restrictions.

“When you have people doxing them and targeting them, of course we don’t want their personal identification out there on the streets,” Johnson said of federal agents. “So we’ve got to work through this in a meaningful way, a thoughtful way, that comports with common sense.”

_____