Senate sends $174 billion spending package to Trump’s desk after Dems relent

After a quick collection of delaying ways by Democrats, the Senate handed a $174 billion spending bundle, sending a trio of funding payments to President Donald Trump’s desk.

The transfer brings Congress one step nearer to averting a partial authorities shutdown, however lawmakers are solely midway by finishing and passing the laws wanted to maintain the lights on in Washington, DC.

Neither social gathering is raring to repeat the occasions of final fall, when Congress shattered the document for the longest authorities shutdown in historical past (43 days). But hurdles stay earlier than the fast-approaching January 30 deadline to fund the federal government.

Regardless of efforts by Senate Democrats to delay the trial, with lawmakers railing in opposition to the Trump administration’s latest actions in Minnesota and Colorado, any resistance was damaged by the pressure of airplane fumes and a looming weeklong break from the Capitol.

$174 billion spending bundle to avert shutdown clears main hurdle in Senate

President Donald Trump factors as he boards Air Drive One for a visit to Detroit, Michigan, on Jan. 13, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland. (Evan Vucci/AP)

The three-bill bundle, referred to as a minibus, contains laws to fund commerce, justice, science and associated businesses; power and water growth and associated businesses; and inside, environmental and associated businesses.

By comparability, that bundle, and an upcoming two-bill bundle from the Home of Representatives, are a lot simpler for lawmakers to move than what’s but to come back.

Funding the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) has confirmed troublesome given the outrage from Democrats in Congress over the company’s actions in Minnesota.

Senate Majority Chief John Thune, R-S.D., hoped an upcoming bundle would come with that invoice, and that it may transfer by the Home of Representatives to the Senate within the coming weeks.

“Appropriators are engaged on a brand new bundle of the 4 remaining payments, which I hope will obtain the identical bipartisan help that has characterised the appropriations cycle to this point,” Thune mentioned on the Senate flooring. “And earlier than the top of the month, the Senate must course of all these funding payments and get them to the president’s desk.”

Nevertheless, a number of lawmakers agree that Congress will seemingly want to maneuver towards a near-term funding growth, or continuation of decision (CR), for some remaining funding payments or these instantly focusing on DHS.

DHS AT CENTER OF PROGRESSIVE UPRISING AS HOME ADVANCES AN $80 BILLION SPENDING PACKAGE

Democrats in Congress are calling for limits on DHS funding, significantly on cash flowing to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the deadly capturing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent final week.

Senate Majority Chief John Thune speaks at a information convention with different members of the Senate Republican management after a coverage luncheon in Washington, October 28, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu through Getty Pictures)

Lawmakers are remaining tight-lipped for now on what precisely the restrictions is perhaps.

On the Home flooring, Homeland Safety Appropriations Chairman Katie Britt, R-Ala., mentioned Republicans had despatched a “counteroffer to Democrats, however have not heard from them but.”

When requested whether or not a CR for DHS funding alone would in the end be acceptable, she advised Fox Information Digital, “What I wish to do is definitely move a invoice.”

“I discover it arduous to imagine that Democrats would give President Trump, of their phrases, a ‘slush fund’ for DHS,” Britt mentioned. “So I believe determining a path ahead is what we have to do for everybody concerned. And so I stay dedicated to doing that. Time is of the essence.”

Britt’s counterpart on the committee, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., famous that the invoice was “clearly essentially the most troublesome” however argued that Democrats didn’t wish to attempt to remedy each drawback in a single fell swoop.

He additionally believed {that a} CR wouldn’t remedy any of the issues both.

“A CR doesn’t cease them from terrorizing our residents or cease the violence,” Murphy mentioned. “So a CR is not nice. A price range with none restrictions on DHS in all probability will not get many Democratic votes both.”

“That is one of many hardest issues to determine: whether or not there’s language you’ll be able to put in a price range that the federal government will comply with,” he continued. “However sure, I believe there are methods through which we are able to construct accountability into the price range which are troublesome for the federal government to keep away from.”

The Senate’s approval of the minibus comes after the Home superior its closing bundle of two payments on Wednesday night. That invoice totaled roughly $80 billion in funding for the Division of State and associated nationwide safety, in addition to federal monetary companies and normal authorities operations.

That laws simply handed the Home on a 341-79 vote Wednesday night time and now heads to the Senate for consideration.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The appropriators of the Home of Representatives are anticipated to launch the textual content of their minibus within the coming days, which incorporates the Division of Conflict, the Division of Labor, the Division of Training, the Division of Transportation and the Division of Well being and Human Providers.

Republican leaders within the Home of Representatives hope to advance that invoice, which can seemingly be by far the most important, subsequent week whereas the Senate is in recess. The Home of Representatives will seem subsequent week.

Nevertheless, questions stay about whether or not the DHS funding might be a part of that laws or a standalone subject.

Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries advised Fox Information Digital on Wednesday: “Proper now, there is no such thing as a bipartisan path ahead for the Division of Homeland Safety invoice.”