Democrats are already openly floating plans to take money from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cover Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s push for a massive air traffic control upgrade after a nationwide ground stop grounded flights across the country Friday night.
Duffy told reporters at a White House briefing that the system relies on “incredibly old” analog equipment that is overloaded, and he wants $50 billion in emergency funding for new hardware, software, telecommunications, and facilities so Congress stops “kicking the can down the road.”
He noted that President Trump had previously sought $30 billion and that $12.5 billion was already provided last year as a down payment.
Democrat Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz responded on X, pointing to what he called “a pot of 60 billion extra dollars on top of the regularly appropriated amount for ICE” and saying, “we should use at least a portion of that money for the FAA.”
Schatz added, “We can solve this problem and not spend any additional taxpayer dollars.”
There is a pot of 60 billion extra dollars on top of the regularly appropriated amount for ICE and we should use at least a portion of that money for the FAA. We can solve this problem and not spend any additional taxpayer dollars.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) November 14, 2026
Democrat North Carolina Congressman-elect Richard Ojeda went further in his own post.
“How about we take $50 BILLION from DHS and ICE and put it toward rebuilding America?” he wrote, adding that the money should go to infrastructure and “GOOD PAYING AMERICAN UNION JOBS” instead of “terrorizing communities, dragging people from their homes, and killing Americans in our streets.”
How about we take $50 BILLION from DHS and ICE and put it toward rebuilding America?
Instead of terrorizing communities, dragging people from their homes, and killing Americans in our streets, let’s rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create GOOD PAYING AMERICAN UNION JOBS.
For WORKERS. Not AI.
— Maj. (Ret.) Richard Ojeda (@Ojeda4America) November 14, 2026
Newsweek reported that Congress provided ICE with $74.85 billion in supplemental funding in 2025, including $45 billion for detention and $29.85 billion for enforcement.
Democrat staff on the Senate Budget Committee said roughly $61 billion of that remained unobligated as of June 30.
The outlet noted that Democrats will control the House and Senate when the new Congress takes office in January and could try to rescind unspent ICE money.
Any actual transfer, however, would require Congress to cancel the existing appropriation and pass new legislation directing the funds to the FAA, because agencies cannot simply move money between accounts on their own.
No formal legislation to take back or move the ICE supplemental has been introduced yet.
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