GOP funding patch boosts defense and deportations, cuts other programs

A seven-month funding patch released by House Republicans Saturday would add billions of dollars in spending for deportations, veterans’ health care and the military while cutting an even greater amount of funding for non-defense programs.

The measure, crafted by Speaker Mike Johnson in coordination with the White House, reflects President Donald Trump’s top policy priorities and heightens a confrontation with Democrats ahead of a Friday midnight shutdown deadline.

Trump on Saturday urged Republicans to back the legislation: "We have to remain UNITED — NO DISSENT — Fight for another day when the timing is right. VERY IMPORTANT," he wrote on Truth Social.

House Democratic leaders have already declared themselves firmly opposed to the GOP-written stopgap. They spent weeks trading offers with Republicans to clinch a bipartisan government funding deal before House GOP leaders decided to pivot to the patch through September, which would give Trump substantially more leeway to shift federal cash.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the House’s top Democratic appropriator, called the funding patch a “power grab for the White House,” warning that the bill would allow Trump and his chief “efficiency” adviser Elon Musk “to steal from the American people.”

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have been more cautious. If Johnson can get the bill through the House, at least seven of them will need to support it in order to avert a shutdown. The Republican-friendly provisions embedded in the newly released bill could fuel Democratic opposition.

GOP leaders said that the bill would increase defense spending by about $6 billion over current budgets, while non-defense funding would fall by a total of about $13 billion. It fulfills a Trump administration request for additional ICE funding to help carry out deportations. The stopgap also maintains a freeze on more than $20 billion in special IRS funding.

Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called the House Republican bill a “slush fund” that gives Trump and Musk “more power to pick winners and losers.” She called instead for Congress to pass a “short-term” funding patch to buy time to finish bipartisan negotiations.

To fulfill conservative demands to cut non-defense funding, Republican leaders are seeking to zero out funding for a slew of programs — much of which had previous been subject to earmarks personally requested by lawmakers.

The bill, for instance, does not renew $40 million in fiscal 2024 funding for more than 70 programs that help children and families. Most had been requested by Democratic senators, but not all: Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith previously secured $250,000 for a group that works to prevent child abuse in her home state of Mississippi and GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski requested more than $5 million to help fund homeless shelters and prevent child abuse in Alaska.

Also forgone are $890 million in grants for health care facilities and equipment. Again, the fiscal 2024 funding had been distributed on a bipartisan basis: GOP Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Roger Wicker of Mississippi were among those who requested funding for clinics and hospitals in their states.

Bipartisan emergency preparedness and disaster mitigation projects funded through $293 million of earmarked FEMA dollars are also not renewed, as well as $116 million in Small Business Administration funding and $107 million in workforce development projects. Clean water projects, law enforcement grants and tribal assistance are also targeted in the bill.

The impact on the previously funded projects could be uneven. Some of last year’s earmarks are no longer relevant, since they were for one-time projects. One provision deleted under the bill is $17.5 million in funding for improvements to the museum in Abilene, Kansas, honoring former Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. That project was secured by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) last year.

The spending package does not contain an expected bipartisan provision that would reverse cuts to doctors’ pay in Medicare. That’s a significant blow to physicians groups, including many House GOP doctors, who have argued that the reductions are based on a formula that doesn't account for rising costs of care.

Even before the bill’s release, Democrats called the stopgap a “blank check” for the president, since it does not contain the earmarks ensuring federal funding goes to certain projects in their districts or the hundreds of pages in guidance Congress includes alongside regular funding bills. It also gives the Trump administration “new start” power to begin military programs Congress hasn’t approved.

GOP leaders briefed House Republicans on the funding plan Saturday morning. They confirmed earmarks would be stripped in the package, with the bill’s text indicating they would have "no legal effect" going forward. Some fiscal hawks also raised concerns that the plan did not reduce spending enough, according to two people granted anonymity to describe the private call.

Johnson and Trump have spent weeks already trying to convince hard-right holdouts to vote for the spending patch — something hard-liners generally never support. They have argued they need the rest of the fiscal year to formulate a plan to codify sweeping cuts being undertaken by the Department of Government Efficiency initiative.

"Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you all to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country’s 'financial house' in order," Trump reiterated in his Saturday posting.

The speaker aims to pass the bill as soon as Tuesday with Republican votes only, and then jam the Senate by adjourning the House and putting the onus on Democrats across the Capitol to back a plan they loathe. Referring to the Senate minority leader, Johnson argued on Friday that any lapse in government funding would be “a Chuck Schumer shutdown” if Democrats don’t help Republicans clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

“Democrats are not the ones interested in finding a reasonable solution to fund the government,” a House Republican leadership aide told reporters on a call Saturday, accusing Democrats of using “government funding as a weapon” to stop the Trump administration’s agenda.

“It's going to be a tough choice now for Democrats to decide if they want to be the ones to shut down the government, something that they've long opposed,” added the aide, who was granted anonymity to describe GOP leaders’ thinking.

As expected, the bill doesn’t include any additional disaster aid to address the recent California wildfires or hurricane victims. Nor does it address a looming debt ceiling deadline.

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