April 21, 2026
The Honorable John Thune
Senate Majority Leader
511 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Mike Johnson
Speaker of the House
521 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson:
As you consider efforts to use the reconciliation process to fund priorities within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we urge you to maximize fiscal responsibility and the good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
The use of reconciliation to provide discretionary funds to agencies is not unprecedented, but it does pose unique concerns for taxpayers. Most notably, doing so bypasses the normal appropriations process and effectively requires the recategorization of discretionary funds as mandatory funds.
Already, the portion of the federal budget on “autopilot” has grown significantly, thus undermining proper congressional review and oversight of spending. In FY2025, 73% of federal outlays consisted of either mandatory spending or payments on the national debt. That means discretionary spending comprised only approximately 27% of the total federal budget—a significant drop from 15 years ago when discretionary funding was more than 36% of spending. This trend has significantly weakened the “power of the purse” delegated to Congress in the Constitution.
Congress should reverse this trend by cutting spending to address the mounting debt problem, and, when possible, shifting spending into the discretionary portion of the budget. To help achieve those important goals, NTU strongly urges the following actions as you craft a narrow reconciliation bill to fund DHS for FY2026.
Limit supplemental DHS funding to FY2026. The reconciliation exercise should be a short-term fix to ensure the normal functioning of government—not a multiyear strategy to avoid the regular appropriations process. While completing all appropriations bills has become extraordinarily partisan and challenging, this is not a sufficient reason to dismantle the normal process. Further, a multiyear vehicle creates a precedent that will undoubtedly be used again in the future to undermine fiscal responsibility to the detriment of American taxpayers.
Reduce topline discretionary figures to account for reconciliation spending. While we strongly urge Congress to limit spending to FY2026, if funding is provided to DHS for FY2027, we urge you to reduce the 302(a) allocation by a commensurate amount to guard against an increase in total outlays. Ideally, the 302(a) allocation should be reduced for all years in which funding is provided to DHS to prevent a ratcheting up of spending—a principle that underscores the importance of providing funding on a short-term basis, as this Congress cannot constrain spending in appropriations bills beyond FY2027.
Reduce our dangerous fiscal imbalance. Many leaders have wisely indicated a desire to keep this bill “skinny.” It could be thinned further if Congress elects to include cost-saving measures to tackle our $39 trillion debt and nearly $2 trillion deficit. While some have argued that offsets are not necessary since this funding was supposed to be provided through the normal appropriations process, deficit reduction should never be off of the table. Congress should cut spending to offset as much of the bill as possible. Most notably, any spending above the FY2026 302(b) allocation should be offset with real spending reductions, not gimmicks or promises of future spending cuts that could be easily ignored by future congresses.
Thank you for your hard work on behalf of taxpayers. We stand ready to help you in your efforts to draft a reconciliation bill that improves our nation’s prosperity and fiscal health.
Sincerely,
Brandon Arnold
Executive Vice President