House Republicans Pass and President Signs into Law “Reconciliation 2.0,” Providing $70 Billion for ICE and CBP; Path for “Reconciliation 3.0” Uncertain

By Kim Johnson, NLIHC Senior Director of Policy  

Republicans in the House of Representatives passed on June 9 a second reconciliation bill (S.2; referred to as “Reconciliation 2.0”) by a party-line vote, 214-212; having cleared the Senate on June 5, the bill was signed into law by the president the day after passing the House. The bill provides over $70 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  

Congress passed a fiscal year (FY) 2026 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill on April 30—after a record-setting 76-day shutdown of the department—that did not provide additional funding for ICE and CBP (see Memo, 5/4). Congressional Democrats withheld their support for the final bill until funding for the agencies was removed following the violent actions of the DHS sub-agencies in Minneapolis, Maine, and communities across the country. NLIHC strongly condemned ICE and CBP for their use of deadly force in vulnerable and marginalized communities, and our Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) urged Congress to avoid letting concerns over FEMA funding stall negotiations over DHS and needed reforms to address abuses of power by ICE and CBP (see Memo, 2/17).  

Republicans instead used a tool called “budget reconciliation” to fund ICE and CBP outside of the regular appropriations process and without the reforms Democrats were demanding. Budget reconciliation is a special legislative procedure that allows bills to pass the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes instead of the 60 votes usually required in the chamber. When one party controls the House, Senate, and White House, reconciliation can be used to enact a bill into law without any support from the minority party. In exchange for this procedural leniency, the kind of provisions that can be included in a reconciliation bill are limited to those that change federal spending, revenues, and/or the federal debt limit; provisions that fall outside of these limits cannot be included, or they will be subjected to the usual 60-vote threshold for enactment. Republicans used reconciliation to enact H.R.1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” into law last year.   

Prospects of third reconciliation bill unclear  

President Donald Trump and some congressional Republicans are calling for a third and final reconciliation bill—“Reconciliation 3.0”—to be enacted before the end of the year. While it is not yet clear what would be included in a third reconciliation bill, President Trump recently called for an additional $350 billion in defense spending, while some House Republicans have pushed for additional cuts to safety net programs to help offset the costs of the second reconciliation bill. The complex rules of reconciliation help protect HUD programs from spending cuts, but many of the same families who receive assistance from other safety net programs also struggle with housing stability; a reduction in assistance that helps families afford the cost of food, medical care, and other necessities will also impact their ability to afford the cost of rent.