Amodei Remarks on H.R. 7147, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today in strong support of the homeland security bill under consideration. As the Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, I'd like to thank the Full Committee chair, Mr. Cole, for his leadership in helping to return us to regular order and producing a series of bills that will fully fund the government by the January 30th deadline.
I would also like to thank my good friend, the Subcommittee Ranking Member, Mr. Cuellar. Negotiations on a bill like this are never easy, but he was and continues to be a great partner.
And finally, I'd like to take the time to thank the Committee staff on both sides of the aisle, who worked tirelessly over the past month to negotiate the product before us. From the majority side: Paul Anstine, Anna Lanier Fischer, Fern Gibbons, Alessandra Ramirez, Ashley Truluck, and Nkosi Thomas. And from the minority: Shannon McCully, Jamie Wise, and Jim Ellsworth.
Thank you all for your dedication and effort.
Last year, we had a year-long Continuing Resolutions, but Continuing Resolutions should only be used when there is no other option. They lock us into outdated spending levels, and in last year's case, they continued funding priorities set under the Biden Administration. And, as a reminder, the Biden Administration was uninterested in securing the border or enforcing immigration law in any real, meaningful way.
Thankfully, the Trump Administration's actions from day one has reversed the crisis left in the wake of Biden Administration. This Administration's strong border security policies have transformed a border in crisis, with record-breaking illegal border crossings that overwhelmed our agents and officers, into the most secure border since the Border Patrol began keeping records.
The fiscal year 2026 Homeland Security bill under consideration today furthers this Administration's goals of undoing the damage caused by the Biden border crisis. It funds the President's priorities, codifies DOGE reductions and efficiencies, and operationalizes border security and immigration enforcement investments from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
For example, this bill eliminates spending on soft-sided, processing tents used under the previous Administration – saving the American taxpayer $1.7 billion. We don't need to spend that money because our border is now secure.
This bill eliminates $650 million in grants that were a handout to NGOs and other nonprofits that only exacerbated the border crisis by providing services to aliens once they were released into the interior of the country.
This funding essentially incentivized aliens to enter into the country illegally, because they knew that the NGOs would provide them everything they would need once processed and released after encounter, such as transportation and housing services, all at the expense of our taxpayers.
And we eliminate funding for the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman, which was an office led and staffed by people who fundamentally opposed ICE's mission to detain and remove dangerous criminal aliens from our communities. Speaking of, I want to reassure my colleagues that this bill does not hamper, in any way, shape, or form, ICE's ability to continue its mission of enforcing immigration law, detaining criminal aliens, and removing those who no longer have a legal basis to remain in this country.
In ICE, we maintained an increase of $485 million included in last year's CR for detention, enforcement, and removal operations. In fact, we provide additional funding for detention to increase our base bed level by 3,000 to 44,500, offset by savings found elsewhere in the agency.
This is on top of the nearly $75 billion appropriated to ICE in the One Big Beautiful Bill – $45 billion of which is for detention capacity alone.
That's $9 billion a year through fiscal year 2029 just for ICE beds. For context, ICE's entire appropriation in this bill is $10 billion.
ICE will have more than $25 billion this year to execute every single aspect of the President's immigration enforcement agenda.
In addition, this bill ensures that the other component within ICE-Homeland Security Investigations-has the tools and resources needed to protect the most vulnerable throughout our communities by strengthening human trafficking and forced labor investigations, and countering the deadly influx of fentanyl and other drugs we saw come across the border under the previous Administration.
In TSA, we provide $300 million to make sure the latest in screening equipment is deployed to airports to make the screening process easier and our flights more secure.
For the Coast Guard, we fully fund the military pay raise, provide over $115 million for the Coast Guard to counter China and expand its footprint in the Indo-Pacific, and include investments in cutting-edge technology and unmanned systems.
The bill fully funds all Secret Service personnel hired with supplemental funds following the assassination attempt of President Trump in Butler, PA.
We also provide the necessary resources to ensure the Secret Service can prepare for and defend upcoming National Special Security Events, such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup and America250.
Our bill supports first responders in our communities with increases to grant funding that will enable firefighters and others to respond capably when a tragedy occurs. And as attacks on houses of worship have increased over the last few years, we are providing $300 million to support security enhancements to churches and synagogues threatened with violence.
Finally, we ensure that CISA, the civilian agency charged with protecting critical infrastructure like power and water, have the resources required to prevent attacks from nation-state adversaries like China and Russia.
Simply put-this bill ensures that the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security, who work tirelessly to keep America safe, have the resources and tools they need to protect this great nation.
I ask my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
