Congress and the Department of Homeland Security still lacked a new “clean” DHS funding deal or GAO-tied planning amendments as of late Tuesday, leaving Wednesday’s desk on the September Government Accountability Office findings that ICE wasted more than $20 million in a rushed detention expansion. CBS News and Bloomberg Law documented abandoned warehouse strategies, unused Guantánamo tent capacity, and reimbursement rates far above normal per-diems. DHS agreed to a strategic plan that may not finish until August 2027.

The Secure America Act and related summer packages already locked multi-year enforcement money — including the roughly $70 billion House immigration track — even as continuing-resolution math runs into December. That sequencing — cash first, plan later — is the oversight fight Democrats want attached before more accounts flow. Enforcement Republicans say deportation capacity cannot wait on a 2027 memo while border metrics remain a midterm message.

Overnight checks found no new presidential signature on a fresh DHS-only package and no enacted amendments forcing the GAO plan onto a faster clock. Watch House Homeland markups, inspector-general letters, and whether leadership folds detention-planning conditions into the next CR negotiation. Primary GAO text and CBS/Bloomberg Law explainers remain the factual base; Examiner-framed enforcement priority coverage supplies the right-leaning counterweight on this contested card. Prior GAO detention audits under both parties found similar planning gaps when agencies surge beds faster than contracting offices can document need. The 2027 plan due date is therefore not a minor calendar note — it is the hinge for whether Congress attaches enforceable milestones before the next multi-year tranche.