Speaking with National Review at the Conservative Political Action Conference in late February, White House border czar Tom Homan expressed frustration with the pace of the administration’s deportation efforts a few weeks into President Donald Trump’s second term.

“I’m not happy” with the number of arrests ICE has carried out thus far, Homan said. “Let me rephrase: I’m happy that we got the arrests we have, but I want more.” Since the start of Trump’s second term, Homan has acknowledged that the success of his efforts to deport illegal aliens will, in many ways, hinge on how much money Congress appropriates for border security efforts in this year’s mammoth budget reconciliation bill.

“If we get more money,” he told NR, “we do more.”

Several weeks later, Homan is displeased that Congress is taking so long to appropriate funding for border control and deportation efforts.

“I support any approach that gives us the money we need to do this operation,” he told Semafor this week. “Is it taking too long? Yes, it’s taking too long. I wish they would have passed it by now.”

He may have to just keep waiting. Serious intra-party disagreements remain over the contours of the president’s 2024 tax legislation, and deficit hawks in the House GOP have spent recent days slamming the spending-cut targets outlined in Senate Republicans’ recently passed budget blueprint. Without agreeing on a budget resolution, congressional Republicans cannot formally unlock the budget reconciliation process, which allows lawmakers to circumvent the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for passing legislation.