On Senate Floor, Murray Talks DHS Funding, Calling on House Republicans to Stop Extending Record-Breaking Shutdown

Murray : " We cannot lose sight of the fact that the reason we find ourselves in this mess, is that last summer-in their Big Ugly Bill-Republicans did an end-run around the bipartisan appropriations process and handed ICE and Border Patrol vastly more money than they receive each year."

Murray on Republicans' reconciliation plans : "Let's be crystal clear about what that means: Republicans are choosing to cut another blank check for these agencies-and to forfeit Congress' ability to put checks on them for the next three years. … After America spoke out demanding more accountability, Republicans are actually doing less."

*** WATCH : Senator Murray's full floor speech***

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke on the Senate floor about the latest on funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

She also spoke at length about President Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget request, the path ahead for appropriations, and the imperative to make serious investments here at home, not in wars abroad, as President Trump has proposed. Those remarks can be found HERE.

Senator Murray's remarks, as delivered, are below:

"M. President. We are nearly done with our FY26 spending bills. It has been a long road, no question, and we still have some serious disagreements around reforms and funding for ICE and Border Patrol-which I will speak to in a minute. But despite the major challenges, we accomplished something important in passing 11-and hopefully soon, 12-of our funding bills. We outright rejected Trump's plan to gut programs families rely on. We protected crucial investments that people count on every day. And we took some important steps to reassert Congress' power of the purse. And that matters immensely.

"And we would be almost be there on the Homeland Appropriations bill too if it were not for Speaker Johnson. Because despite the Senate unanimously passing a bill-twice in fact-to fund the parts of DHS we can agree on, while continuing to work on the areas of disagreement when it comes to ICE and Border Patrol, Speaker Johnson and the House Republicans have refused to put the bill up for a vote. And they have chosen to needlessly extend the DHS shutdown, making it the longest shut down in history. House Republicans need to stop holding disaster relief hostage-and put that bill up for a vote. We know it'll pass overwhelmingly.

"But I also want to step back for a moment, because we cannot lose sight of the fact that the reason we find ourselves in this mess is that last summer-in their Big Ugly Bill-Republicans did an end-run around the bipartisan appropriations process and handed ICE and Border Patrol vastly more money than they receive each year.

"They gave ICE $75 billion, CBP $65 billion, and even more funding on top of that for the Secretary to tap however they like. All told, Republicans signed off on over $160 billion in funding for Trump's mass deportation campaign at DHS-that is nearly 3 times the entire Department's annual budget. And they did so with virtually no guardrails.

"We all know what happened next: President Trump and Stephen Miller built ICE and Border Patrol up into untrained paramilitary forces-and sent them out to terrorize communities across the country. American citizens were wrongfully detained. Peaceful protestors were tear gassed, tackled to the ground, and pepper sprayed for no reason. Windows and doors were smashed in by masked agents with no warrant, no ID. And of course, American citizens like Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot by federal agents, and slandered by the Trump Administration.

"Democrats made clear: there has to be reform-and we will not approve more funding for these agencies until that happens. But after weeks of very tough negotiations, Republicans ultimately refused to agree on some very basic reforms-including reforms that the White House had already, by the way, agreed to.

"And now, while they continue refusing common sense reforms, Republicans are once again vowing to give ICE and Border Patrol even more money, without any accountability.

"That's right-after America spoke out demanding more accountability-Republicans are actually doing less accountability. From what I am hearing, they are looking to now approve funding for ICE and Border Patrol for the rest of Trump's term with none of the accountability measures we regularly include in our annual spending bills.

"By pursuing this path, they are intentionally walking away from the reforms that we were negotiating over. And on top of that, they will not include long-standing, legacy guardrails that have been bipartisan when it comes to DHS funding. So let's be crystal clear about what that means: Republicans are now choosing to cut another blank check for these agencies-and to forfeit Congress' ability to put checks on them for the next three years.

"If Republicans want to cut Stephen Miller another blank check to terrorize American cities and communities, Democrats will have no part of it, and we will fight them every step of the way. But if they are ready to get serious about reforms-which ICE needs a heck of a lot more than another money bomb-Democrats are at the table, ready to rein in these rogue agencies."

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