H.R. 7744: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026

H.R. 7744 is the full-year spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security. It does two big things at once: it ends the partial DHS shutdown that began on February 14, 2026, when the stopgap funding expired, and it funds the department through September 30, 2026.

The bill reaches across all of DHS — Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the TSA, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, CISA, FEMA, and Citizenship and Immigration Services. It also authorizes back pay, under existing law, for federal employees affected by the shutdown, and it formally approves the obligations the department had to take on to keep essential operations running while funding lapsed.

Accountability is the other half of the story. The bill requires monthly budget and staffing reports to Congress and quarterly briefings on major acquisition programs. It withholds $5 million from the Office of the Secretary until DHS answers every committee question tied to its 2027 budget hearings before July 1 — a direct pressure tactic aimed at leadership.

It also puts real money into oversight. The Office of Inspector General gets $257.6 million, including $20 million earmarked specifically for added inspections of detention facilities and another $12.8 million for tracking how earlier appropriations are spent. Lawmakers clearly expect close monitoring of detention, contracting, and how DHS carries out recent funding.

A handful of riders shape what DHS can and can't do with the money. It can't be used to build a national identification card. It steers $300 million to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which helps houses of worship, schools, and other at-risk nonprofits harden against attacks. And it forces DHS to disclose every grant and contract awarded without full and open competition in 2025 or 2026, with the inspector general reviewing whether those awards followed the rules.