Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is attempting to usher through a party-line immigration enforcement funding bill on Tuesday in what will be a test of party unity despite a slim margin in the House.
The $70 billion legislation will give funding to Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which were left out of a Department of Homeland Security funding bill earlier this year.
The Senate passed the measure last Friday, with only one GOP “no” vote from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), after an hourslong vote-a-rama that became a referendum on President Donald Trump’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund.” The Senate’s bill ultimately did not include a ban on the DOJ’s fund, born out of a settlement with the president over the leak of his tax returns, despite Republican reservations concerning the fund.
Johnson will only be able to lose two GOP votes, assuming all members are voting and present. During the party’s first party-line reconciliation bill, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) voted against the massive tax and spending bill.
Massie told reporters Monday he was “still trying to compare apples to apples,” but that his support would likely hinge on whether GOP leadership attaches anything to the legislation or increases the spending allotment.
Fitzpatrick will be something of a wild card on Tuesday, as he has repeatedly broken with his party on high-profile issues, most recently voting to send aid to Ukraine and expressing vocal opposition to the anti-weaponization fund.
The Pennsylvania Republican is expected to launch a discharge petition this week alongside Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) to prohibit the use of taxpayer funds to pay any claims submitted to the Department of Justice for the anti-weaponization fund. Fitzpatrick’s office did not return requests for comment.
GOP outcry over the anti-weaponization fund escalated after the DOJ announced the settlement, culminating in acting Attorney General Todd Blanche telling House lawmakers the administration was “not moving forward with the fund” after a court ruling against it.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who previously expressed opposition to the fund’s creation, told the Washington Examiner he planned to support the reconciliation bill despite it not including a ban on the fund, as the court’s ruling made it a “dead issue.”
Outside of Massie and Fitzpatrick, Johnson will have to get other members of his party on board as well, with another House Republican telling the Washington Examiner they were also undecided and Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA) confirming he was leaning no.
“I said from the beginning that I wouldn’t even consider this unless we had some meaningful bipartisan reforms to interior immigration enforcement, and we haven’t seen that yet,” Kiley said.
“I think that we need to restore trust and public confidence, and make sure that the mission of the agency is focused, and so I’m disappointed that we haven’t seen a bipartisan agreement along those lines,” Kiley added.
The speaker will also have to contend with possible House GOP absences, with several primary elections set for Tuesday night and Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) recovering from an undisclosed health problem that has kept him away from Capitol Hill for over three months.
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Johnson will not be able to rely on Democratic votes either. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters on Monday that Democrats will be a “hard no” on the “reckless Republican budget reconciliation bill.”
“We believe that taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, not give ICE another $70 billion blank check so they can unleash brutality on American citizens and violently target law-abiding immigrant communities,” Jeffries said during an afternoon press conference.