U.S. Senate GOP Adopts Budget Resolution To Fund ICE And Border Patrol Without Democrats

The U.S. Senate adopted a GOP budget resolution early Thursday morning after a marathon “vote-a-rama” that stretched from Wednesday night into the early hours, setting up a path to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol without Democratic support.

The Senate vote was 50 to 48, with GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republicans to break ranks and vote against the resolution.

CBS News

The resolution was adopted “just after 3:30 a.m. Eastern on Thursday” after about six hours, and it now goes to the House for adoption before a final funding bill can be crafted and voted on in both chambers.

President Trump has set a June 1 deadline for final passage, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said, “We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America's borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies.”

CBS News described the budget resolution as a key step as Republicans move ahead with a plan to fund immigration agencies “under the without help from Democrats,” and NBC News said the budget measure would pave the way for ICE and Border Patrol funding “without any Democratic support.”

NBC News also emphasized that the budget has no force of law on its own, but it instructs committees to begin drafting a bill to authorize “$70 billion in funds for ICE and Border Patrol while bypassing a filibuster.”

The Senate action came after months of negotiations over ending a record months-long shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, with Democrats refusing to fund ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection unless reforms were adopted.

CBS News said DHS funding became a flashpoint after “two deadly shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis in January,” and it reported that the department shut down on Feb. 14 amid the stalemate.

CiberCuba

NBC News similarly said the shutdown followed Senate Democrats refusing to fund the department unless major policy changes to immigration enforcement were made after “the killings of two American citizens in Minneapolis” by immigration enforcement agents.

After weeks of back and forth, CBS News reported that Senate Democrats and Republicans failed to reach an agreement on reforms, and “opted instead last month to fund the bulk of DHS, while leaving out funds for ICE and parts of CBP.”

The House, meanwhile, had not taken up the Senate-passed DHS funding bill, and CBS News said House Republicans indicated they needed assurances that ICE and CBP would be funded while waiting for the Senate to move forward with budget reconciliation.

NBC News added that Republicans planned to use “budget reconciliation” to fund immigration enforcement agencies without policy changes demanded by Democrats, including “mandating body cameras and limiting raids in sensitive locations like schools and hospitals.”

NPR’s explainer connected the Senate vote to the broader mechanics of reconciliation, describing it as a way to pass legislation with a “51-vote simple majority in the Senate” rather than the usual 60-vote threshold.

As the Senate moved through the vote-a-rama, Democrats and Republicans used the amendment process to frame the stakes in sharply different terms, with multiple leaders delivering contrasting messages on costs, border security, and the character of the agencies.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, previewed Democrats’ plans at a news conference on Wednesday, promising “a variety of votes aimed at putting Republicans on the record, especially on affordability issues,” and CBS News quoted him saying, “This will be a reconciliation of contrasts, and we are relishing that fight.”

Schumer then attacked the GOP’s approach on the Senate floor, and NBC News quoted him saying, “America, this is what the Republicans are fighting for: To maintain two unchecked rogue agencies that are dreaded in all corners of the country instead of reducing your health care costs, your housing costs, your grocery costs, your gas costs.”

CBS News also quoted Senate Majority Leader John Thune defending the plan, saying, “We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America's borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies.”

Fox News reported that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “America is crying out for relief from high costs, and you're here adding $140 billion to an agency that nobody — two groups — Border Patrol and ICE, that nobody respects in this country,” while Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso countered that ICE and Border Patrol agents weren’t the problem, saying, “Democrats are.”

Barrasso added, “Today’s Democrats are a rogue and radical party,” and he said, “You deserve better than reckless Democrat hostage-taking. You deserve the tools and support from Congress necessary to carry out the mission Congress has given you. Our country depends on you.”

NBC News described how Democrats used the unlimited amendments of the vote-a-rama to force politically notable votes, including an amendment by Schumer that sought to “create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that does not lower out-of-pocket health care costs.”

The vote-a-rama itself became a battleground for amendment strategy, with Democrats attempting to broaden the budget framework and Republicans trying to keep it narrowly tailored to immigration enforcement.

NBC News said the vote-a-rama featured “unlimited amendments — the price of bypassing the 60-vote threshold,” and it described Democrats using the process “to buttonhole GOP senators into tough votes —and extracted some politically notable defections.”

Forbes

NBC News reported that Schumer’s amendment failed 48-50 but won the support of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and it said another amendment by Sen. Jon Ossoff failed 49-49 but also won votes from Collins, Sullivan and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

CBS News described the amendment voting as beginning shortly after 9:30 p.m. ET, and it said Democrats’ amendments “many of which focused on cost-of-living issues” were aimed at forcing votes on affordability.

Politico described the overnight marathon as rejecting Democratic attempts to broaden the budget framework to include “school meals, increase federal spending on child care and reverse cuts to SNAP food benefits,” and it quoted Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, saying, “Republicans could easily do this, but they’d rather spend our tax dollars on lawless immigration enforcement and illegal wars.”

Politico also reported that Republicans rejected Sen. John Kennedy’s proposal to add pieces of the SAVE America Act elections bill to the immigration enforcement bill, and it quoted Kennedy saying, “Some say it can’t be done,” adding, “They may be right. But do you know what else? They can’t predict the future.”

Roll Call added further detail on the amendment math, saying Schumer’s amendment was rejected on a 48-50 vote and that it required 60 votes to waive a budget point of order, while Roll Call also reported that Lindsey Graham’s amendment creating a “deficit-neutral reserve fund” was adopted 98-0.

After the Senate’s first step, the next phase depends on whether the House adopts the same budget blueprint or modifies it, and that decision could determine whether the reconciliation process moves quickly or triggers another round of marathon votes.

“Topline Senate Republicans narrowly passed a budget resolution early on Thursday morning in their latest effort to end the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security and bypass the Democratic filibuster to help fund the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol”

Forbes

CBS News said the resolution “now goes to the House for adoption before the final funding bill can be crafted and voted on in both chambers,” and it described a multistep process with President Trump’s June 1 deadline for final passage.

Fox News

Fox News warned that adoption of the budget resolution doesn’t immediately kick off reconciliation, saying, “The House will now have to adopt the same blueprint or modify it — the latter would kick the resolution back to the Senate and trigger another marathon vote session.”

NBC News similarly said the budget measure “also still needs House approval,” and it described how House GOP leaders wanted to see action on the budget before taking up the Senate-passed DHS bill.

Several outlets tied the Senate action to the goal of ending the DHS shutdown, with CNBC saying the Senate action followed a nearly six-hour vote-a-rama session and that it was a crucial step forward “in their effort to end a partial shutdown” that had gripped DHS since mid-February.

CBS News reported that DHS remained shut down, although Trump had “on a temporary basis” and that agency officials warned funding would dry up next month, with Thune telling reporters, “I think that message is being delivered and hopefully will be received, and we can get moving forward with making sure those agencies are funded.”

NBC News said Republicans will need to hold “50 of their 53 members to pass the bill that comes out of the process.”