President Donald Trump signed a $1.2 trillion (£880 billion) budget deal on Tuesday afternoon, 3 February 2026, in the Oval Office, finally ending a partial government shutdown that began last Saturday. The move came after a nail-biting 217-214 vote in the House earlier that day, following Senate approval last Friday.
This massive package keeps most of the federal agencies happy through the end of the fiscal year in September. The big exception? The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which only gets cash through next week, 13 February to be exact. That has left lawmakers racing to hash out Democratic demands for reforms after immigration agents fatally shot and killed two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, in Minneapolis last month.
Democrats are pushing hard for tighter leashes on DHS arms like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including mandatory body cams for agents and a no-mask rule so they can’t hide their faces in public. The Dems are tying it all to the shootings, demanding protocol overhauls amid public outrage. Without a new deal by next Thursday, the DHS funding lapses again.
Trump couldn’t hide his grin while signing, saying, “This bill is a great victory for the American people.” But DHS remains the power keg; even people within parties can’t decide on next steps. The department oversees ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Coast Guard, Secret Service, and others, making consensus tricky.
Both the House and the Senate had to greenlight any bill before Trump’s pen hit paper. Senators bundled five spending measures but yanked DHS funding, opting for a 2-week lifeline while they bicker over the long haul. The House mirrored that on Tuesday.
Senate majority leader John Thune wasn’t thrilled about the tight deadline, admitting Republicans are split. “Once we start, we have a very short timeframe in which to do this, which I lobbied against, but the Democrats insisted on a two-week window,” he griped. “I don’t understand the rationale for that. Anybody who knows this place knows that’s an impossibility.”
The mini shutdown stung quickly; thousands of FAA and air traffic controllers got furloughed or worked unpaid. It also pushed back the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ key monthly jobs report, which everyone from politicians to regular citizens leans on to understand the economy.
The clock is ticking fast on DHS talks. With the Minneapolis shootings fresh in mind and party lines dug in, Washington’s just got a few more days to avoid another mess or risk more chaos.
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