Representative Seth Moulton Wednesday introduced a bill that would reverse a recent funding boost to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made through President Donald Trump’s signature budget reconciliation bill and reallocate the dollars to fund premium-lowering health care tax credits.
The bill comes after more than a dozen House Republicans broke from party leadership and sided with Democrats to pass an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that lapsed at the beginning of the new year. Negotiators in the U.S. Senate are now reportedly finalizing a compromise measure to revive the subsidies.
“We absolutely want to extend the ACA premiums tax credits, they shouldn’t be lapsing, but we’re funding it by taking money from ICE’s budget,” said Moulton in an interview, calling the Trump administration’s priorities “completely out of whack.”
“The One Big Beautiful Bill nearly triples ICE’s budget at a time when American families across the country are facing higher premiums due to the ACA premiums tax credit lapsing,” said Moulton referring to the Trump administration’s signature spending package that gave ICE $75 billion in funding through 2029.
The bill, Moulton said, would restore ICE funding to its previous annual level of $10 billion and repurpose the rest. Cosponsors include Democratic U.S. Reps. André Carson on Indiana, Darren Soto of Florida and Sylvia Garcia of Texas.
Moulton’s bill also comes as public outrage grows over the recent killing of a woman by an ICE agent in Minnesota, and as Congress struggles to piece together spending measures ahead of the Jan. 30 funding deadline to avoid another shutdown. The shooting, according to multiple outlets, has threatened to destroy spending negotiations with some Democrats calling for a freeze on ICE funding even if it means another deadlock.
The latest shutdown lasted a record 43 days as Democrats refused to support a funding deal that allowed the health care subsidies to expire. Eventually, a portion of Democrats voted to support a GOP deal to reopen the government.
Asked whether ICE funding should be another shutdown issue for the minority party, Moulton said it “certainly should be,” adding that he has heard from multiple, unnamed Republicans who secretly disagree with the Trump administration’s escalating immigration operations.
“What happened in Minnesota was an outright murder for anyone who can look at it with their own two eyes, and we should not be funding the continuation of ICE terrorizing American cities,” said Moulton.
The Trump administration has defended the shooting in the name of self defense.
“A lot of GOP colleagues are privately concerned about ICE,” Mouton said. “One approached me after the Minnesota shooting and said that as a former law enforcement official himself, he thinks it’s criminal what happened, but they won’t say any of this out loud because they’re too scared of Donald Trump.”
Moulton, who is challenging Senator Ed Markey for the U.S. Senate seat, filed his bill a day after Markey and Rep. Ayanna Pressley filed one aimed at eliminating the legal shield state, local and federal officials have against civil liability for misconduct. Moulton also filed legislation last month that would let the public sue federal immigration agents for violating their rights.
