The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a draft of a nearly $1 trillion Homeland Security funding bill that includes provisions supporting several emergency preparedness and law enforcement programs in Hawaii and the Pacific.

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But the draft also includes cuts to oversight offices at the Department of Homeland Security, to the TSA and cybersecurity programs. Democrats on the committee who have been pushing for immigration reform also contend Republicans have ignored their concerns and continued to pursue President Donald Trump’s hard-line approach to immigration.

The draft includes just over $1 million for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Department of Hawaiian Homelands Warehouse Retrofit Project, which would install an emergency power backup generator, automatic transfer switch and housing, to help at the agency pre-position emergency supplies on the west side of Oahu at DHHL’s multi-use warehouse.

It also includes $581,533 for the renovation of the HIEMA’s Kapolei Warehouse Emergency Operations Center, which would fund the construction of a satellite facility in west Oahu at the same multi-use DHHL warehouse.

It also supports millions in funding for FEMA, including more than $700 million in firefighting grants, $106 million for the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, which funds University of Hawaii’s National Disaster Preparedness Training Center, and $15.4 billion for the Coast Guard.

U.S. Rep. Ed Case (D, Hawaii) sits on the committee and pushed for much of that funding, but in a media release Thursday said he ultimately voted against the measure.

“Despite the strong support this bill provides for emergency management and our Coast Guard, I could not accept the overall result, which would make Americans less safe through deep cuts to key elements of homeland security including (the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) and TSA,” Case said in a statement. “I also cannot support additional funding to ICE or CBP’s Border Patrol without comprehensive, meaningful immigration enforcement reforms.”

The bill cuts CISA’s operations by roughly 10%, which Case’s office said would leave “Americans more vulnerable to cybersecurity and infrastructure security threats at a time where there is a need for heightened security” and cut TSA’s budget by $347 million, potentially slowing and putting strain on security lines at airports.

It would also eliminate all funding for the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman — which is tasked with investigating allegations of abuse, misconduct and rights violations in immigration detention facilities — and cut the DHS Office of Inspector General’s budget by 12%, further limiting oversight of the agency.

Immigration has proven one of the defining issues of the second Trump Administration.

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In January, amid widespread protests in Minnesota’s Twin Cities against a massive immigration crackdown targeting Somalis and other immigrant groups, federal agents killed Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The killings and the ongoing immigration crackdown have exacerbated sharp divisions between congressional Republicans and Democrats, and prompted a historic halt in DHS funding.

Democrats, including Case, have argued that additional funding for immigration enforcement agencies should be contingent on increased oversight and transparency.

While the bill fell short of demands by Democrats, it included some measures aimed at reining in some immigration authorities, including language prohibiting agents from preventing bystanders from recording or documenting immigration enforcement actions, language requiring agents carrying out immigration operations to have visible identification, and $40 million in funding for body cams.

It also includes language specifically preventing immigration authorities from detaining or deporting U.S. citizens, and requires Customs and Border Patrol and ICE to reinstate training requirements that were in place in January 2025.

The Trump administration heavily reduced the amount of training time officers from both agencies were required to undergo before being sent into the field and also lowered hiring standards in an effort to make huge manpower increases to both.

In the broader Pacific, the draft bill includes $117 million for increased Coast Guard operations and support funding in the region, to include workforce support in housing, medical and childcare access for Coasties based in Hawaii, and funding for the survey and design of an additional hangar at its Barbers Point facility, and directs the service to consider conducting surveys for land acquisition and construction for new forward operating locations in the Pacific Islands region.

It also includes support for the Homeland Security Investigations’ Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative, a program based out of HSI’s Honolulu field office focused on tackling transnational crime across the Pacific islands, and support for an increased Secret Service presence in the Pacific to go after scammers operating out of the islands who have targeted elderly Hawaii residents.

After getting its approval from the Appropriations Committee, the draft will go next to the House for a floor vote.

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