FEMA earmarks threatened by immigration funding standoff

Aidan Quigley and Aris Folley, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 9, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The ongoing fight over fiscal 2026 funding for immigration enforcement is threatening millions of dollars in home-state earmarks for disaster preparedness projects.

The compromise full-year Homeland Security bill, which was dropped from the $1.2 trillion spending package enacted last week, includes $272.7 million across 203 home-state projects for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the only agency covered by the bill eligible for earmarks. However, the ongoing fight over the operations of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agencies after two fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis has put these projects in limbo.

Traditionally, any extension of funding that could be enacted if there is no agreement on a final bill would not include earmarks. Republicans are floating another full-year extension of Homeland Security funding as a backup plan, although Democrats are likely to oppose that move.

Still, the fate of the projects remains uncertain as negotiations pick up ahead of the Feb. 13 deadline for the bill, the last of the 12 fiscal 2026 spending bills that has not been enacted into law.

Key lawmakers have millions of dollars in projects in the bill, with Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Katie Britt, R-Ala., receiving by far the most, at just under $15 million across eight projects. The largest is $4 million for her state’s Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, which will be used for repairs to the Washington Ferry Road in Montgomery. Other large Britt projects include $3.1 million for storm drainage improvements in Sumter County, which is in the western part of the state, and $2.6 million for Birmingham for restoration of the Village Creek floodplain.

There was a tie for the largest project in the bill, at $8.7 million, between Reps. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., and Michael R. Turner, R-Ohio. Despite having only one project each, that is enough for both of them to be tied as the top House earmarker in the bill.

Evans secured his funding for the Gold Hill Pipeline, a water pipeline in Greeley, while Turner’s project is for a dam improvement project in the Miami Conservancy District. Turner’s website says the funding would make key repairs across three dams that are over 100 years old.

Evans is one of the most endangered House Republicans in November, according to Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, which rates his race a "toss-up." He flipped a Democratic seat in 2024 by less than 1 percentage point, winning with about 49% of the vote.

Impact of earmarks

Lawmakers were split on whether the pending earmarks would help motivate an agreement on Homeland Security funding.

Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., secured $3.5 million across two projects in the bill, both shared with senior appropriator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. Nearly all of that, $3.2 million, is for heating, ventilation and air conditioning improvements at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, which serves as the county’s emergency operations center.

Justice said he “absolutely” believed that the home-state projects could help push lawmakers to reach an agreement.

“I think if they weren’t there, we may have an ongoing food fight for a long time,” he said.

On the other hand, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he believes that earmarks won’t tip the scales, but the wider operations of FEMA and the Coast Guard may.

“I don’t think you need any more pressure than you already have,” he said. “I just had Winter Storm Fern in Louisiana killing nine people. Communities need help.”

Cassidy has one earmark in the bill, but it’s a big one: $6 million for road drainage improvements for Interstate 20 in Ouachita Parish, which is in the northern part of the state. Cassidy shares that earmark with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., another senior appropriator, and it’s the third-largest single project in the bill.

The Coast Guard is set to receive a 5% increase in the bill and has a major base in New Orleans. Bollinger Shipyards, which has shipyards in Mississippi and Louisiana, builds cutters and patrol boats for the Coast Guard.

“Do we really not want (the Coast Guard) to be funded?” Cassidy said. “And I can go down the list. I think there’s sufficient pressure to build a case that this bipartisan agreement needs to be stuck to, if you will.”

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