Golden votes to advance Homeland Security, Defense spending bills
Congressman looks forward to compromise budget that secures the border, bolsters national defense
WASHINGTON — Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) today voted in favor of the 2025 Homeland Security and Defense appropriations bills.
In total, the bills would appropriate roughly $900 billion in funding for the Pentagon and defense-related activities and for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Coast Guard, Citizen and Immigration Services, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and disaster relief programs.
“Advancing these bills gets us one step closer to the only possible end point of the 2025 budget process: a bipartisan spending plan that can win the support of the House, Senate, and White House,” Golden said. “While the House majority has used these must-pass bills to advance so-called ‘culture war’ policy riders that I oppose, passing appropriations in the House is the only way toward a bipartisan, bicameral budget that will include the provisions in these bills that create and sustain jobs in Maine’s defense-based industries, support our armed service members, and secure our southern border.”
“I am confident that in ongoing negotiations, extreme policy provisions will be removed — as they were last year — in order to win the bipartisan support necessary to pass these bills,” Golden said.
The Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2025 would provide $833.1 billion for the Pentagon and defense-related spending, an $8.6 billion increase over 2024. The bill includes funding for several Maine priorities including construction of a DDG-51 destroyer at Bath Iron Works and quality-of-life improvements for servicemembers and their families — as well as substantial investments in drug interdiction and counterdrug activities. As a member of the House Armed Service Committee, Golden successfully won inclusion of funding for Maine-based defense industry across the state.
The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2025 would provide $64.8 billion to the Department, a $3 billion increase over 2024. It includes $600 million exclusively for border barrier construction, sustains funding for 22,000 border patrol agents — the largest force ever deployed — and $90 million for Operation Stonegarden, which provides federal funds to enhance cooperation and coordination in border operations among state, local, tribal and federal agencies. The bill also provides $2.1 billion for Coast Guard procurement and construction, $22.7 billion for the federal Disaster Relief Fund, and $360 million for Assistance to Firefighter Grants.
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