US House sends funding package to Senate as shutdown clock ticks

By Gizem Nisa Demir

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US House of Representatives moved to avert a looming partial government shutdown by passing a sweeping set of funding measures late Thursday, advancing the package to the Senate with only days remaining before the Jan. 30 deadline.

CBS News reported that lawmakers approved a three-bill bundle covering Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services and Education; and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development by a 341–88 vote, while a separate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill passed 220–207.

Senate leaders are expected to combine the measures with two bills approved last week to accelerate consideration, even as a winter storm threatens to disrupt travel to Washington, according to the outlet.

-‘ICE is totally out of control’

The DHS measure drew sharp Democratic criticism over immigration enforcement, despite concessions including new reporting restrictions, training standards, and $20 million for body cameras.

“ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is totally out of control, using taxpayer dollars to brutalize American citizens and law-abiding immigrant families,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.

“The American people deserve an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that conducts itself in a manner consistent with every other law enforcement agency in the country,” he added.

Speaker Mike Johnson countered that the bills would “fund the Trump agenda,” urging members to heed “the common-sense, reasonable Democrats who helped to put these bills together.”

In a surprise addition, the House also approved an amendment repealing a provision allowing senators to sue over secret phone-record searches, effectively forcing the Senate to accept the change as part of the funding package.