House narrowly passes compromise bill to end shutdown

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Feb 3, 2026

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The House of Representatives on Tuesday narrowly passed a compromise spending bill that will end the brief partial government shutdown and could set the stage to rein in President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant operation that has roiled the nation.

The 217-214 vote sent the retooled spending package to Trump’s desk for his expected signature as soon as later Tuesday, and opens the door to high-wire negotiations with Democrats over reforms to scale back the controversial mass deportation campaign.

The bill, which passed with the support of 21 moderate Democrats but over the opposition of the same number of conservative Republicans, funds most of the government for several months but only extends funding for the Department of Homeland Security and ICE until Feb. 14.

With only a four-vote majority, House Speaker Johnson was forced to twist arms to wrangle the support of fellow Republican lawmakers, who threatened to tank the bill for various reasons despite Trump’s support.

The measure ends the partial government shutdown that began Saturday, funding most of the federal government through Sept. 30 and the Department of Homeland Security until next Friday as lawmakers negotiate potential ICE reforms.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer cut the deal last week with Trump and it passed the Senate with significant bipartisan support.

But House Democrats weren’t thrilled with the deal. Most balked at voting for even a short-term funding for ICE after immigration agents killed two U.S. citizens on the streets of Minneapolis last month. A small group of moderate and conservative Democrats broke ranks with their party and backed the bill.

Congressional Democrats are now expected to launch talks with the White House on a laundry list of demands around ICE, including requiring agents to stop wearing masks and identify themselves, wear body cameras and agree to independent probes of alleged wrongdoing.

Critics in both parties are pushing for independent investigations of the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Democrats warn that they will block any additional effort to fund DHS and ICE if they don’t win significant concessions in the next week and a half.

Neither party wanted a full-blown shutdown like last fall’s 43-day standoff that upended air travel and suspended SNAP food aid for low-income people.

Congress made bipartisan progress to fund the government since then, passing six of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund federal agencies and programs. That includes important programs such as nutrition assistance and fully operating national parks and historic sites, all of which are funded through Sept. 30.

The remaining bills bankroll roughly three-quarters of federal spending, including the Department of Defense.

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