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It never ends: GOP moves to fund border, Democrats blast Trump spending
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This story never ends.
The government is still not fully funded for the rest of the fiscal year – meaning September 30.
Yes. The House and Senate approved a bipartisan bill funding most of the Department of Homeland Security in late April. It’s similar to what the Senate approved unilaterally in late March. But the House never took it up until just before a recent Congressional recess.
Now the GOP is trying to go around Democrats and pass a three-year bill to fund ICE and the Border Patrol. Democrats never secured reforms at ICE. So they aren’t willing to help out. That’s why Republicans are using a special process called budget reconciliation to bypass Democrats.
President Trump holds a design of a proposed presidential ballroom at the White House. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg)
The only hitch is that it takes a while. The goal is to pass this bill by June 1.
House GOP pushes back on Senate’s ‘skinny’ plan to end record-breaking DHS shutdown
Republican Congressional leaders initially wanted to make this bill rather spare, just funding ICE and Border Patrol. But they expanded that measure to include $1 billion for President Trump’s ballroom security after the recent assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
So Democrats are launching a blitz about the ballroom.
RELATED: REPUBLICANS QUESTION TRUMP BALLROOM FUNDING IN DHS BILL
«Republicans say let them eat cake and demand American taxpayers build Trump a palace while they’re at it,» said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) «These ‘ballroom Republicans’ have a constituency of one: Donald Trump’s ego.»
«The president just plowed down the East Wing of the White House. And it sits there as a gaping hole waiting to be filled. It was going to be his billionaire buddies filling it. Now it’s the American taxpayers,» complained Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
Senate Republican leaders initially insisted that the latest funding bill only stick to funding Border Patrol and ICE.
«While my personal preference is to put as much as you possibly can in this reconciliation vehicle, there may only be an appetite for Border Patrol or ICE,» said Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.)
But the decision by GOP leaders to shove $1 billion into the bill opens the floor for other Republicans to stuff additional priorities into this budget reconciliation measure.
«I’d love to see the SAVE Act in some form or fashion,» said Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) on Fox, referring to the bill which requires proof of citizenship to vote.
«There are a lot of good conservative wins that we can put forth for the American people,» said Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) on Fox Business.
Some pro-life Republicans are pushing an extension of a ban on money for Planned Parenthood. The prohibition expires later this year.
«It’s been a very thorny issue. It’s all under negotiation right now,» said President Trump.
Meantime, Republicans accuse Democrats of returning to their mantra to defund the police as they fight Border Patrol and ICE funding. Democrats remain opposed because they never secured the safeguards they wanted for ICE after what happened this winter in Minnesota.
«My Democrat colleagues refused to provide a single dollar for the men and women who protect our borders,» said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as Democrats criticize a DHS funding proposal. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo)
Efforts to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security emerged as a flashpoint in recent years. There are too many controversial policy areas fused together under one federal roof. That’s why there’s now a bipartisan plan to permanently split up DHS.
«It’s just become too big. It’s become too bureaucratic,» said Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), one of the chief sponsors of the bill.
The legislation would make the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) its own cabinet-level department. The Secret Service would report directly to the President. And the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) would head to the Department of Transportation.
Consider the consternation by travelers with the government not paying TSA during the 43-day comprehensive government shutdown. The same thing happened over the winter and into the spring as DHS remained unfunded.
Moskowitz believes his legislation would curb some government shutdowns. And, it would shield tourists from fiscal fallout.
«The American people’s travel cannot be held up in the political dysfunction of Washington,» said Moskowitz.
But that debate is for another day. The immediate question is if the Republican-led House and Senate can advance the package to finish off funding for ICE and CBP.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran met with Senate Republicans over lunch Tuesday to defend the $1 billion request.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was skeptical after she emerged from the meeting, noting that the Administration needed to provide «justifications» and «details,» not «just toplines.»
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) as he defends a DHS funding proposal on Capitol Hill. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) defended the spending request.
«You’ve got a President with three assassination attempts just in the last two years. And obviously the money that’s in there is about securing the building. And the Secret Service has a job to protect the president. We need to make sure they have the tools to do it,» said Thune.
After the meeting, Thune said Curran «did a very good job of laying it out and developing the case for why these resources need to be used.»
Other lawmakers need to hear more.
House lawmakers sit in the chamber on Capitol Hill. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
«I don’t know if they’re talking about infrastructure dollars or other kind of technology,» said Rep. Dave Taylor (R-Ohio). «I need to see the details before I pass judgment on whether or not the request is reasonable.»
Remember that Republicans want to support the President. But they also don’t want anything attached which will hold up ICE and Border Patrol funding. Especially this late in the game.
«Members are diving in a little bit. They want to understand how much of this is really related to security,» said Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) «Obviously, we have to keep the President and his guests safe. But when you’re talking about $1 billion, members are going to ask a lot of questions. They’re digging into details. I don’t think we know exactly how this shakes out yet.»
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Here’s what we do know: The Senate Budget Committee won’t meet until late next week to prep its version of the bill – regardless of what’s in or out of it.
The Senate must then conduct a «vote-a-rama» which goes around the clock to adopt the measure. Then whatever the Senate adopts goes to the House.
This won’t play out until the final days of next week, just before the Memorial Day recess. President Trump established June 1 as a deadline for finishing this bill.
The House just adjusted its schedule for next week. The House won’t meet for votes until next Wednesday, May 20. That means there’s a chance the House may need to hang around Washington for part of Memorial Day weekend to pass the bill. The House and Senate are both scheduled to be out of session for Memorial Day week itself.
If lawmakers pass this bill, the fight over all government funding for Fiscal Year 2026 will finally conclude. That’s sixteen months after House and Senate committees were hearing testimony from cabinet departments and agencies about what they needed for last fall.
RELATED: SENATE TAKES MAJOR FIRST STEP TO PREVENT FUTURE SHUTDOWNS WITH PAINFUL ACCOUNTABILITY PLAY
And yet this story continues.
Even if they pass this final tranche of funding for DHS, lawmakers have to start again on the spending hamster wheel for this fall. Otherwise, there’s another government shutdown on October 1.
congress, budget house of representatives politics, government shutdown, donald trump, homeland security
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Judge with intimate ties to Dem Party’s key Russia Hoax players behind latest anti-Trump decision
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The judge who ordered President Donald Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center is married to an attorney who has represented a former anti-Trump FBI lawyer, served as counsel to the House Jan. 6 committee and currently represents former President Joe Biden — relationships that Trump blasted as clear conflicts of interest following the ruling.
Trump claimed in a heated Truth Social post that U.S. District Court of D.C. Judge Christopher Cooper’s wife, Amy Jeffress, a former Obama-era Justice Department attorney turned top lawyer of Trump’, encouraged her husband to reject Trump’s Kennedy Center renovation plans and remove his name from the building.
He pointed to Jeffress’ past and current clients, which include some of his most prominent critics, as evidence that she is «a Radical Left Democrat» who is influencing her husband to rule against him.
«Trump Hating Judge wants to keep it open because his wife probably told him to do so!» Trump wrote of Cooper, referring to his rejection of Trump’s plans to close the Kennedy Center for two years for renovations.
FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP’S NAME REMOVED FROM KENNEDY CENTER, SAYS ONLY CONGRESS CAN RENAME IT
A composite photo shows a worker on a lift at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, alongside U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled that President Donald Trump’s name be removed from the building. (Getty / and the U.S. District Court of D.C.)
Cooper issued his ruling on May 29, finding that the Kennedy Center board exceeded its legal authority when it voted to rename the institution to include Trump’s name. He ruled that only Congress can change the institution’s name based on the Kennedy Center’s founding statute, which makes clear that the venue is dedicated to President John F. Kennedy.
Trump also alleged Jeffress «doesn’t use the ‘Cooper’ name because they, as a couple, don’t want people to know that she has a Conflict of Interest with an important Judge.»
The president pointed to Jeffress’ professional background, which included serving as a counselor to Attorney General Eric Holder during the Obama administration. Trump and his allies have accused the Obama administration of politicizing intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 election and promoting allegations of ties between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin. The FBI named its investigation into Russia’s alleged ties to Trump’s campaign Crossfire Hurricane.
WHO IS NORM EISEN? MEET THE ANTI-TRUMP ATTORNEY REPPING FBI AGENTS SUING THE DOJ
Deputy Assistant FBI Director Peter Strzok prepares to testify before a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 12, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Thousands of text messages exchanged between Peter Strzok, a senior investigator on the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane probe, and his then-lover Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer and adviser to Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, became public in 2018. Although Page was not involved in the Russia investigation, the pair’s anti-Trump messages prompted criticism from some who argued the exchanges revealed political bias within the FBI.
Jeffress represented Page during congressional scrutiny of the FBI’s handling of its investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for official State Department business. Page was not involved in the Clinton email investigation itself.
She later represented Page again in a civil lawsuit against the FBI and the Justice Department, in which she argued that the disclosure of the text messages was improper.
Years later, Jeffress served as outside counsel to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, advising members on legal issues involving evidence, witness testimony and executive privilege claims. The committee examined the causes of the riot, efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and Trump’s actions leading up to the attack.
TRUMP’S NAME ADDED TO KENNEDY CENTER FOLLOWING UNANIMOUS BOARD VOTE TO RENAME HISTORIC BUILDING
A sign is displayed on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts building. (Getty Images)
The president also pointed to Jeffress’ law firm, Hecker Fink LLP, formerly known as Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, which represented E. Jean Carroll in her civil lawsuit against him.
Since July 2025, Jeffress has served as Biden’s personal attorney and is representing the former president in a lawsuit seeking to block the Justice Department from releasing transcripts and audio recordings of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents.
«Amy is totally wired into the Left System, from her husband down, and it is impossible for me to be treated fairly,» Trump wrote on Truth Social. «He has a total Conflict of Interest, and should be brought up on charges for not revealing these facts.»
Appointed by President Barack Obama, Cooper has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., since 2014.
The criticism facing Cooper is not the first time he has been accused by Trump or his allies of having a potential conflict of interest. Cooper previously drew scrutiny during Special Counsel John Durham’s prosecution of former Clinton campaign-linked attorney Michael Sussmann, with critics arguing that he should have recused himself because his wife, attorney Amy Jeffress, represented former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, a figure tied to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
The Sussmann case stemmed from Durham’s probe into the origins of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Prosecutors alleged that Sussmann falsely told the FBI he was not acting on behalf of any clients when he presented allegations about a purported communications channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank during the 2016 election. Cooper rejected Sussmann’s effort to dismiss the case before trial and allowed Durham’s prosecution to proceed, but a jury ultimately acquitted Sussmann in May 2022 after a two-week trial overseen by Cooper.
President Donald Trump speaks during a luncheon with Kennedy Center board members in the East Room of the White House in Washington on March 16, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
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Fox News Digital reached out to Cooper’s office, Jeffress, a representative for former President Joe Biden, Page, a representative for Garland, and Hecker Fink LLP for comment.
Cooper and Jeffress have been married since 1999. Their wedding was officiated by former Biden Justice Department Attorney General Merrick Garland, who at the time was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
attorney general, donald trump, federal judges, kennedy center, first family, politics
INTERNACIONAL
El Congreso de Guatemala aprueba una ampliación presupuestaria y compras por excepción para el Tribunal Supremo Electoral
El Congreso de Guatemala aprobó de urgencia nacional una ampliación de Q120 millones para el Tribunal Supremo Electoral, con el objetivo de fortalecer su operación en 2026 y dejar preparada la organización de las elecciones generales de 2027.
El decreto también asegura que los recursos no ejecutados al cierre de 2026 puedan trasladarse al presupuesto de 2027, para evitar que la planificación electoral pierda financiamiento.
La reforma incorpora un nuevo artículo 140 Bis al Presupuesto General vigente para 2026 y fija una asignación de Q500 millones para elecciones generales, monto que deberá usarse exclusivamente en planificación, organización, preparación, implementación, capacitación, logística, tecnología, comunicación, operación y otras actividades vinculadas con el proceso electoral de 2027, según el texto del decreto.
Ese mismo artículo dispone que los saldos de caja no ejecutados y financieramente disponibles al 31 de diciembre de 2026 se incorporen al presupuesto institucional del TSE en 2027.
El destino de esos fondos queda restringido al financiamiento del evento electoral, de acuerdo con la normativa presupuestaria, contable y financiera aplicable.
La reforma también faculta expresamente al TSE para realizar en 2026 las adquisiciones públicas necesarias para preparar las elecciones de 2027 bajo la modalidad de excepción prevista en el artículo 44, literal f), de la Ley de Contrataciones del Estado.
Esa autorización cubre compras asociadas a logística, tecnología, comunicación, operación y demás actividades directamente ligadas al proceso electoral.
A cambio, el tribunal deberá remitir a la Comisión de Asuntos Electorales del Congreso un informe mensual sobre la programación y ejecución de esas adquisiciones. El reporte tendrá que presentarse dentro de los primeros 15 días posteriores a cada mes cumplido y su entrega, según el decreto, no condicionará ni suspenderá la ejecución de las compras.
La ampliación presupuestaria aprobada por los diputados responde a una petición de los magistrados del TSE para contar con el mismo presupuesto de 2025.
En el desarrollo de la primera sesión extraordinaria, el pleno conoció primero la iniciativa de ley 6773, pero luego alcanzó consensos para dispensarla de dictamen y aprobarla en un único debate.
El Decreto 16-2026 modifica el artículo 140 Ter del Presupuesto General vigente y ordena al Organismo Ejecutivo, por medio del Ministerio de Finanzas Públicas, realizar las modificaciones, reajustes y readecuaciones necesarias para asignar Q80 millones adicionales al tribunal electoral.
La norma indica que esos movimientos deberán formalizarse mediante el acuerdo gubernativo respectivo, conforme a la Ley Orgánica del Presupuesto.
El mismo artículo 140 Ter autoriza al Tribunal Supremo Electoral a priorizar e incorporar a su presupuesto institucional de 2026 un monto de Q40 millones con cargo a sus saldos de caja acumulados al 31 de diciembre de 2025.
El texto fuente señala que esos recursos estarán destinados al fortalecimiento de necesidades institucionales, entre ellas la ciberseguridad.
La suma de ambos componentes explica la ampliación de Q120 millones aprobada por el Congreso: Q80 millones que deberá trasladar el Ejecutivo y Q40 millones que el propio TSE podrá incorporar desde sus saldos acumulados. El texto fuente precisa que los diputados atendieron así la petición de los magistrados para sostener la capacidad operativa del organismo.
El diputado Héctor Julio Estrada, presidente de la comisión de finanzas, explicó que la reforma añade una disposición para que lo no ejecutado en 2026 pueda utilizarse en el presupuesto electoral de 2027. Sobre ese punto, dijo: “Entonces, está poniendo un texto que explica que el recurso que reciban este año, si no lo gastan, lo tendrán para aportar a ese presupuesto 2027”.
Estrada también justificó el uso de compras por excepción para acelerar la preparación del proceso. Según su declaración en el texto fuente, “se les está dejando una, la excepción que le toca la parte de obras electorales para que puedan contratar más ágilmente, porque el proceso electoral ya básicamente está encima y levantar los procesos nos han dicho que nos lleva tiempo”.
El legislador sostuvo además que la redacción replica la fórmula utilizada para el ciclo electoral anterior. En sus palabras, “generalmente es como un artículo que se pone en el mismo presupuesto para el año electoral, que sí fue en el año 2022. Ahora estamos el espejo 2026, digamos, cuatro años más tarde. Estamos haciendo la misma redacción para que funcione como 2022 en 2026”.
Guatemala,Congreso,Tribunal Supremo Electoral,TSE,elecciones,presupuesto,política,finanzas,legislación,2027
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