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Rep. Jody Arrington urges GOP to use reconciliation to secure DHS funding amid Iran tensions
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Summary
Rep. Jody Arrington, chair of the House Committee on the Budget, told broadcasters that Republicans should use reconciliation to protect funding for ICE and CBP and avoid a precedent of carving out homeland-security components. He defended the administration's Iran policy and said savings from program-integrity reforms could underwrite defense spending.
Rep. Jody Arrington, chair of the House Committee on the Budget, said in a broadcast interview that Republicans should use the Senate’s reconciliation process to secure multi-year funding for immigration-enforcement agencies and other homeland-security operations rather than accept appropriations that carve out ICE or CBP.
"Either we get we use reconciliation for a simple majority in the senate," Arrington said, arguing Republicans could use that route to "take the leverage away from the Democrats" and prevent future appropriations from selectively defunding core homeland functions. He added that "we can't leave the critical operations of homeland security" — including coast guard, port security and cyber defenses — unfunded, calling such an outcome "unacceptable."
Arrington said a short-term fix is possible: "President Trump's already signed the executive order to effectively fund everything," which he described as a temporary measure. But he reiterated a preference for resolving funding through reconciliation to avoid establishing a precedent of carving agencies out of appropriations bills.
The congressman also linked the funding fight to national-security concerns. He said there has been an increase in cyberattacks by Iranian actors and warned that Democrats’ posture on appropriations will be one of obstruction "until the November election," a political calculation he said Republicans must plan around.
On broader budget strategy, Arrington highlighted program-integrity reforms as a source of savings to underwrite defense and readiness investments. He listed SNAP and Medicaid integrity measures and "means-tested" program reforms as targets for savings that, in his view, could be redirected to support troops and military modernization. When asked for specifics he cited prior legislation that produced savings but the numeric figure he stated in the interview was unclear in the transcript.
A host pressed whether public opinion or midterm dynamics might shift in response to shutdown risks and the Iran conflict; Arrington said "the easy things are already done" and that difficult policy work will be politically unpopular but necessary to secure the country and support defense needs.
Arrington framed the Iran response as a difficult but necessary choice to prevent a nuclear-armed regime, criticized previous reliance on sanctions and the JCPOA as ineffective, and warned of a parallel risk from unsustainable debt if fiscal discipline is not paired with defense spending.
The interview closed with Arrington saying this is his last year of a fifth term and that he plans to return to West Texas, but that he will "stay in the fight." No formal votes or committee actions were recorded during the interview.
