U.S. Senate Passes GOP Budget Blueprint To Fund ICE And Border Patrol, 50-48

The U.S. Senate took a key procedural step early Thursday morning toward funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, adopting a GOP budget blueprint after a marathon overnight “vote-a-rama” that stretched into the early hours.

The measure passed 50-48, with all Democrats present opposed, and with GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska breaking ranks to vote against it.

20 Minutes

CBS News described the Senate adopting the resolution “just after 3:30 a.m. Eastern on Thursday after about six hours,” and said it now goes to the House before a final funding bill can be crafted and voted on in both chambers.

CNN similarly said the chamber adopted the budget blueprint by “a vote of 50-48,” with “all Democrats present opposed,” and noted that “Two Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky, broke ranks with their party.”

NPR added that the Senate adopted the plan with a “50-48 vote,” and that the resolution would authorize the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees to draft legislation to increase the deficit by “up to $70 billion each,” with a final price tag expected to be “$70 billion total.”

Multiple outlets tied the step to President Trump’s deadline, with CBS News reporting that “President Trump has set a June 1 deadline for final passage,” and CNN saying the effort comes as Republicans seek to reopen the government completely.

The Guardian framed the same vote as a near party-line advancement that sets up legislation allocating “as much as $140bn” to ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), while Al Jazeera described the resolution as the first step in ending a months-long standoff.

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

The Senate’s move relied on budget reconciliation to avoid the usual 60-vote threshold, and multiple outlets laid out how the process is designed to let Republicans proceed without Democratic support.

NPR explained that “One way to get around that 60-vote threshold and avoid the threat of a filibuster is budget reconciliation,” and said reconciliation is “made possible because of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.”

Al Jazeera

It described reconciliation as a “two-stage process,” beginning with a “budget resolution that gives instructions to congressional committees to write legislation that achieves certain budgetary outcomes,” followed by committee work that is “incorporated” into “one big bill” considered by the House and the Senate.

Al Jazeera similarly said Republicans used a tactic that allowed them to proceed with a “simple majority rather than overcoming a 60-vote threshold,” and described reconciliation as “a convoluted process known as a ‘budget reconciliation’.”

NBC News described the budget measure as instructing committees to draft a bill to authorize “$70 billion” while bypassing a filibuster, and said Republicans plan to use “budget reconciliation” to fund the agencies without the policy changes Democrats demanded.

CBS News and CNN both tied the resolution to a multistep timeline, with CBS News noting that it “now goes to the House for adoption before the final funding bill can be crafted and voted on in both chambers,” and CNN saying “The House will next have to pass the same immigration funding measure.”

NPR added that the resolution heads to the House “before committees can draft the actual legislation,” and said President Trump gave a “deadline of June 1 for the bill’s passage.”

The Guardian described the resolution as “an important step in the budget reconciliation process,” and said it must be adopted in the House before the judiciary and homeland security committees can begin writing legislation.

The vote triggered immediate, sharply contrasting reactions from top Democrats and Republicans, with both sides framing the reconciliation effort as either securing borders or ignoring affordability and accountability.

“Republicans in the United States Senate have passed a resolution to fund US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the first step in ending a months-long standoff sparked by opposition to US President Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive”

Al Jazeera

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota defended the move in CBS News, 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.”

CNN quoted Thune’s position as part of the effort to tee up a party-line measure, while also reporting that Democrats accused Republicans of prioritizing immigration enforcement over costs.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, speaking moments after the measure passed, told CNN, “Tonight, Senate Republicans showed the American people where they stand – not for families struggling with the high costs of child care, groceries, gasoline, electricity, but for pumping $140 billion towards rogue agencies,” and added, “We will continue to force vote after vote on the most pressing issue facing Americans.”

NBC News likewise quoted Schumer on the floor, 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.”

The Guardian reported Schumer’s post-passage line that “Tonight, Senate Republicans showed the American people where they stand: not for families struggling with the high costs of childcare, groceries and gasoline, electricity, but for pumping $140bn towards rogue agencies.”

Republicans also highlighted the narrowness of the blueprint and the need to keep it moving, with Politico quoting Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) saying, “Our Democratic colleagues have refused to provide funding for the Border Patrol and ICE,” and “This needs to be done.”

At the same time, the two GOP defectors were portrayed as raising concerns about fiscal stewardship and training, with Time quoting Rand Paul saying, “Congress ought to fund border security, but we should be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars and fully pay for the $70 billion to secure our borders,” and quoting Murkowski’s earlier statement that “The tragedy and chaos the country is witnessing in Minneapolis is shocking.”

While the Senate ultimately adopted the budget blueprint, the “vote-a-rama” process became the stage for Democrats to force Republicans into recorded positions on affordability and policy guardrails, and for Republicans to resist expanding the scope.

CNN described the “vote-a-rama” as a marathon overnight session that stretched into the early hours of Thursday morning, and said Democrats aimed amendments at “changes to ICE policies and affordability issues they argue Republicans are ignoring.”

CBS News

It quoted Schumer saying Democrats would “continue to force vote after vote” and said Senate GOP leadership “managed to keep their party together to vote down a slew of amendment votes that would have jeopardized the final measure.”

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

NBC News reported that one amendment sought to “create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that does not lower out-of-pocket health care costs,” and that it “failed 48-50,” but “won the support of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.”

It also described an amendment by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., that would “create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that fails to address the practice of insurance companies stepping between patients and their doctors to delay or deny access to care,” which “failed 49-49,” but won votes from Collins, Sullivan, and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

The Guardian added that Democrats used the amendment votes to propose changes centered on affordability, including “amendments intended to address grocery prices and out-of-pocket healthcare costs,” and said Susan Collins and Dan Sullivan voted in favor of those amendments but “they ultimately did not receive enough support to advance.”

Politico described Republicans rejecting Democratic attempts to broaden the budget framework to fund “school meals,” increase spending on “child care,” and reverse cuts to “SNAP food benefits,” while also reporting that Republicans rejected Sen. John Kennedy’s proposal to add pieces of the SAVE America Act elections bill.

The Senate action was presented as a step toward ending a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that began in mid-February, with multiple outlets describing how funding disputes over ICE and CBP kept the standoff going.

CNN said the effort comes “weeks after the Senate unanimously approved a package to fund the rest of DHS,” including the Transportation Security Administration, and that “House Republicans had rejected that bipartisan deal” because it did not include contentious funding for immigration enforcement.

CNBC

CBS News described DHS funding becoming a flashpoint after “two deadly shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis in January,” and said the department “shut down on Feb. 14 amid the stalemate,” with Democrats pledging to object to any DHS funding without reforms to immigration enforcement agencies.

Al Jazeera said the standoff was “sparked by opposition to US President Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive,” and described the resolution as the first step in ending “a months-long standoff.”

The Guardian tied the shutdown to the fact that ICE and CBP “have been without funding since mid-February, when the DHS shutdown began,” and said the resolution must be adopted in the House before committees can draft legislation.

NBC News added that months of bipartisan negotiations to end the DHS shutdown “have faltered,” and said Republicans planned to use budget reconciliation to fund ICE and Border Patrol without policy changes Democrats demanded, including “mandating body cameras and limiting raids in sensitive locations like schools and hospitals.”

Several outlets also described the operational and travel impacts of the shutdown, with CNN reporting that it led to “hours of wait times at airports” before Trump ordered the department to use funds from a domestic policy package to pay TSA officers and other agency staffers.

Looking ahead, CNN said the House must pass the same immigration funding measure and that a GOP legislative package would need to survive another Senate vote series, while NPR said the resolution must be adopted in the House “before committees can draft the actual legislation.”