The Brief

Two months ago, Democrats in Congress said they would not give immigration enforcement agencies another cent without reforms to limit the tactics of their officers.

But 59 days into a record-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown, that strategy has resulted in none of the policy changes they have demanded, while President Trump's immigration crackdown is still operating at full speed.

That is thanks to congressional Republicans, who gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement a $75 billion windfall last year with few strings attached — money that has helped insulate ICE from congressional pressure and oversight.

And as Congress returns from a two-week recess, top Republicans are making plans to skirt Democrats again to ensure ICE and Customs and Border Protection have funding through the end of Trump's term.

"A massive shoveling of cash"

With the South Portico adorned in red, white and blue bunting, the White House's Fourth of July celebration last summer doubled as a signing ceremony for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Republicans passed it by circumventing Democrats with a tool known as budget reconciliation. Trump called the law, which cut taxes, slashed Medicaid and eliminated clean energy tax credits, the "biggest bill of its type in history."

That big bill also included $75 billion in new funding for ICE, on top of the agency's annual funding, which is usually only about $10 billion. The infusion made ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency. Other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including Customs and Border Protection, also received tens of billions of dollars in additional funding.

Democrats have used this party-line reconciliation maneuver too, including in 2021 to approve billions of dollars in COVID-19 relief money.

But Sam Bagenstos, who was general counsel at the White House Office of Management and Budget at the time under President Joe Biden, says this ICE funding is not a collection of targeted funds. Instead, it is more like a blank check.

"Here what we have is just a massive shoveling of cash to an agency with few if any strings," he says. "I can't think of an example that's anywhere close to that."

The expansive pot of money received renewed scrutiny roughly six months after Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act when immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

Democrats pledged to fund ICE and Border Patrol only if the White House agreed to reforms, like requiring judicial warrants to enter homes and banning officers from wearing masks.

Article I of the Constitution says Congress holds the purse strings — a key check on the executive.

"But if turns out Congress had already taken away its ability to do that by passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which gave ICE enough money that they can say to Congress, 'Yeah, sorry, we don't need to come back to you for money, and there's nothing you can do to us,'" Bagenstos says.

"A tempering influence on the agency"

The fight over ICE tactics has been at a standstill for two months, leaving DHS without the regular annual funding that Congress is required to approve for all federal agencies.

The lack of funding would typically impact an entire agency. But this shutdown has been different. Unlike airport security employees who worked without pay for weeks, most ICE and Border Patrol operations continued largely unimpaired due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Trump also signed an executive order to pay other workers, circumventing Congress again.

That flood of money has also allowed ICE to hire thousands of agents and expand the number of detention center beds, even moving to purchase warehouses to house more detainees.

The influx of funding has been a boon for private prison companies, like CoreCivic and Geo Group, which spent millions of dollars on lobbying in 2025, including in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

John Sandweg, who served as acting ICE director and acting DHS general counsel during the Obama administration, says having to ask Congress for money every year makes agencies more responsive to concerns or requests for information from lawmakers.

"Having that appropriations mechanism where you have to get up there and defend what you did and how you did it every year — that is a tempering influence on the agency," he says. "You might get a call from a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. Those calls resulted in a lot more changes."

When Congress gives an agency money, lawmakers usually attach specific guidelines for how that money should be spent. Sandweg says the $75 billion has very few specific guardrails.

Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem used some of it to buy two luxury jets and has drawn criticism for awarding a multimillion-dollar ad contract to a firm with ties to her and top aides. ICE has also drawn questions from lawmakers for relying more on limited or no-bid contracts as the agency races to scale up capacity.

"When you have tens and tens of billions of dollars that can be easily spent with very limited oversight and no fear that you're going to have problems in the next fiscal year with Congress, you have created a real vulnerability to fraud or misconduct," Sandweg says.

The new DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, has moved to roll back some of Noem's spending policies. Democrats say the shutdown fight helped prompt the changes, despite no agreement between Congress and the White House on the list of legislative demands that Democrats are pressing for.

"DHS is still subject to congressional oversight," a DHS spokesperson wrote in a statement. "The 'misconduct' that needs to be corrected is the Democrats' longest government shutdown in U.S. history."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is depicted on a television next to him as he prepares to do a television interview on April 2 after the Senate passed a Department of Homeland Security funding bill by unanimous consent.

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Republicans say Democrats are "stretching it"

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., says by withholding funding, Democrats are going beyond oversight, obstructing a basic responsibility of Congress because regular appropriations bills require 60 votes to overcome the Senate filibuster.

"Obviously the Democrats are stretching it by messing with the appropriations process in a way that was never intended," Thune told reporters.

Thune says that's why Republicans "prefunded" ICE with that $75 billion.

Senate Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement to fund DHS, except ICE and Border Patrol, but the House has yet to vote on the Senate-passed deal amid pushback from House Republicans.

Now top Republicans say they will use that same party-line tool again to fund ICE and Border Patrol for the rest of Trump's term, without having to acquiesce to Democrats' demands for reforms.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, says Democrats are blocking Trump's mandate from voters to execute his immigration agenda. He has proposed using reconciliation to fund ICE for a decade.

"I think we may very well be in a world where these Senate Democrats will never again vote to fund ICE," Cruz told Fox News.

Power of the purse in crisis?

Bagenstos, now a law and public policy professor at the University of Michigan, sees a different threat as the White House bypasses Congress on funding in all sorts of ways.

The administration has refused to spend money Congress has appropriated, like for foreign aid, and has spent money that Congress has not appropriated, like to pay DHS employees despite a shutdown.

And though lawmakers did sign off on giving ICE that $75 billion, Bagenstos says sidestepping the regular funding process is one more way Congress has surrendered power.

"We really are at a moment when the power of the purse is in a crisis," he says.

Bagenstos says the Constitution's framers gave Congress that appropriations power because they saw the legislative branch as closest to the people.

"They disagreed about almost everything in the construction of our government, but one thing that people across the board agreed on was that the legislature should have the power of the purse," he says.

If Congress checks out, Bagenstos says, that increases the risk of tyranny from the executive.

"If Congress doesn't stand up, I don't see why every executive in the future isn't going to follow some playbook like this," he says.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Southern California was built on radio.

"I can still hear the jingle KFWB News 98,” wrote  Taline in Los Feliz, during a recent conversation on LAist's daily news show, AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM. “I grew up hearing that in my dad's minivan on the way to and from school. It has a special place in my heart.”

Back in April, broadcast company Audacy announced KNX News — one of the last-remaining all-news FM stations — was leaving the FM dial where it had simulcast on 97.1 FM since 2021. The station, which is also one of the oldest in L.A., is not budging from 1070 AM where it has been on the air for more than 100 years. The move away from FM officially happened in May to make way for a new sports talk station, which Audacy officials called an area of growth for advertisers in today’s media landscape.

The move is one in a long line of changes for radio and a reminder that before podcasts, playlists and algorithms, many Southern Californians built their days around radio broadcasts.

Radio, a daily ritual

The construction of KNX

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Herman J. Schultheis

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Los Angeles Public Library

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Michael Jackson, a well-known KNX, personality

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Larry Mantle, now in his 41st year hosting AirTalk, remembers being a kid and dreaming of what it might be like to be behind the mic at one of these radio stations.

“ I grew up with KNX," he said. “My dream job as a kid was to be an anchor on KNX or KFWB, the two local all-news radio stations, 'cause there was nothing like hosting AirTalk that even existed at that point.”

Mantle opened up the phone lines on a recent show to hear from his fellow SoCal radio lovers about the shows they miss and the memories they have. Here's what they had to say:

A love for radio, then and now  

A pilot of KMPC's traffic alert helicopter pictured with his daughter and grandson.

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A 1963 picture of Valley State College (now Los Angeles Valley College) preparing to launch KVCM

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“When you'd walk down Hollywood Boulevard where the station was, you could hear it playing as you went down the street,” said  Olivia in Glendale about KLAC 570 with Al Jarvis.

 Larry in Yorba Linda shouted out KBCA Jazz for its 24-hour jazz, saying “When I first moved out here in '68 from Phoenix, which had like an hour a week, it was a real wonder.”

 Mark in Glassell Park emailed that he loves KCRW’s Henry Rollins, writing, “I used to bristle at his unique DJ persona, but over time, I came to love him and his crazy eclectic playlists. I find his knowledge in history and punk rock fascinating. He's a gem and a legend."

"I'd like to give a shout-out to all the DJs working at KXLU, the college station at Loyola Marymount University, said  Jeremy in Culver City in an email. “That station's been on the air for nearly 60 years. I believe it's one of the best examples of what's possible with radio."

"KFWB and KRLA back in the day when they were rock music stations —  Dr. Demento, one of my favorite on-air personalities, also had eclectic music taste," said  Carrie in Desert Edge.

“ Dr. Demento was must listening when I was a kid in junior high school at Le Conte Junior High in Hollywood,” Mantle added. “Every Sunday night on KMET, we would make sure we were listening to Dr. Demento and his funny records.”

The question remains…

An 11-year-old winning a car in a KMPC contest in 1963.

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Listener support is vital to any radio station, and it’s clear KNX has many lifelong fans. AirTalk listeners highlighted their support for household KNX names over the decades like Bill Keene, Melinda Lee, Mike Roy and Jackie Olden.

As KNX makes changes, many are watching closely and thinking about the future of radio.

Listeners like Tommy in La Quinta are left wondering if the radio dial will be the same…

“I’m a hardcore listener, but I don't know about casual listeners [and] if they'll tune to AM,” he said.

After months of hand-wringing, Los Angeles and LA28 have come to a tentative agreement on how Olympics organizers will reimburse the city for its expenses for the 2028 Summer Games.

According to the deal, the private Olympic organizing committee will pay upfront for the estimated cost of services that are not eligible for federal reimbursement, like trash pick-up and traffic control. Under another proposal, the city would also be able to tap an LA28 contingency fund if it isn't fully repaid by the federal government for policing costs at Olympic venues.

The agreement is nearly nine months overdue and still needs approval by Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council.

The 2028 Olympics are intended to be privately financed, and an existing city agreement with LA28 states that the Olympics organizers, not L.A., will pay for extra costs for public services in support of the Games. But L.A. is the financial back-stop for the Olympics, meaning if LA28 goes in the red, taxpayers will pick up the bill.

Beyond that, the city services agreement presents another area where L.A. could incur additional unexpected expenses for hosting the Games. L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover earlier this year that a bad deal could "bankrupt" the city.

Jacie Prieto Lopez, an LA28 spokesperson, and Paul Krekorian, who leads the city's office of major events, said in statements that the freshly inked agreement would help deliver a fiscally responsible Games.

"Mayor Bass’ priority is that the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games be fiscally responsible, protect taxpayers, and benefit Angelenos for decades to come. This agreement helps deliver that commitment," Krekorian said.

But the contract between the two parties doesn't fully resolve one of the biggest areas of financial risk for the city: the enormous cost of security for an event as extensive and high-profile as the summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Organizers are counting on the federal government to pay for public safety at Olympic venues that are considered part of a "national special security event." That includes costs for LAPD staffing. LA28 has not included security costs in its $7.1 billion budget — a fact that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto criticized earlier this year.

The federal government has so far allocated $1 billion for security costs for the Olympics. Exactly where those federal funds will go has not yet been determined, and there's no guarantee they will cover all of L.A.'s policing costs.

To address this, city officials have also proposed an amendment to a 2021 agreement between the city and LA28. That amendment would establish that if L.A. is not reimbursed by the federal government for all its eligible expenses, it could dip into LA28's contingency fund of $270 million before the private organizing committee could use those funds for any legacy projects.

But that bucket of money will first be used for any costs that Olympics organizers still owe if they run out of revenue — meaning if the Olympics don't turn a profit, the city's access to that money will depend on how much is left for the taking.

Civil rights attorney Connie Rice, who has been tracking the city's negotiations with LA28, told LAist the agreement was a "PR document" not a deal. She pointed out that if the federal government does not pay up for security spending as expected, L.A. could be in trouble.

" It leaves the taxpayers with a GoFundMe strategy," she said.

The city services agreement lays the groundwork for more negotiations between LA28 and the city. Each venue will require its own agreement, to be negotiated by July 1, 2027. Venues in the city of L.A. include Dodger Stadium, the L.A. Convention Center, L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the Venice Beach Boardwalk.

The City Council's ad-hoc committee on the 2028 Games will meet Tuesday afternoon to vote on the agreement.