Golden votes against GOP’s partisan ICE, CBP reconciliation bill

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) today voted against the Republicans’ fiscally irresponsible reconciliation bill that would have plowed nearly $70 billion of funds toward ICE and CBP, despite the agencies already sitting on enough funds to cover their operations. 

“I support the men and women who enforce our nation’s immigration laws, but this partisan spending bill is irresponsible and unnecessary,” Golden said. “Last year, Congress gave the Department of Homeland Security a huge budget increase, with ICE in particular receiving more than seven times its usual appropriation. Given our nation’s already shaky fiscal footing, I see no reason to circumvent the normal annual budget process by throwing tens of billions of dollars at agencies that are already able to cover their costs well into the future.”

The vote passed the House in a party-line, 214-212 vote. 

BACKGROUND: 

The Republicans’ so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a party-line reconciliation bill passed last year, provided $65 billion to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and $75 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last year. Both sums far outpace prior years’ appropriations. 

According to OMB, the agencies have so far spent only a fraction of these windfalls: ICE still has roughly 84 percent of the funds, while CBP still has roughly 62 percent. 

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