Senate advances budget plan to fund ICE, Border Patrol and reopen DHS

Summary

In Washington, the Senate took a key step toward reopening the Department of Homeland Security by voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol and send the measure to the House. The vote came early Thursday after DHS has been shut down since mid-February while Democrats demanded policy changes tied to fatal shootings by federal agents, according to the report.

The Senate action used budget reconciliation, a process that allows passage with a simple majority and bypasses filibuster rules that typically require 60 votes in the Senate. That procedural shortcut, the report said, also brings increased scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian and requires a long series of amendment votes at the beginning and end of the process.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republicans faced “a multistep process” but would ensure that “America’s borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies.” Thune’s comments framed the reconciliation effort as a way to keep ICE and Border Patrol funded despite Democratic objections to the approach.

Democrats used the amendment process to press for different priorities, including changes intended to reduce health care costs and other expenses. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued that Republicans should instead work with Democrats to lower “out-of-pocket costs,” adding that Republicans were seeking to put money into ICE and Border Patrol rather than pursuing that kind of cost relief.

The Senate held the first series of votes through the night, starting Wednesday evening and continuing into early Thursday morning. After that sequence of amendment votes, the Senate adopted the final resolution 50-48 just past 3:30 a.m.

A longer path to reopening DHS depends on action by both chambers and the House’s willingness to take up the Senate’s package. Once the House approves the framework and the Senate Parliamentarian approves it, the report said, the two chambers can move to pass the measure. The Senate has already voted on a bipartisan basis to reopen the rest of the department, but Republican leaders in the House said they would not take up that bill until there is progress on funding ICE and Border Patrol as well.

The budget resolution would fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years, through the rest of President Donald Trump’s term, and Thune and other GOP leaders said they aim to keep the bill narrowly focused on those agencies so it can reach Trump’s desk soon. Still, the report said some Republicans view the budget bill as their last real chance this year to enact priorities, and they have pushed to add other items, including money for farmers and provisions tied to Trump’s “proof of citizenship” voting effort, called the SAVE America Act.

In the course of the overnight voting, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., briefly blocked progress, saying he was frustrated that the bill did not include parts of the SAVE America Act or other legislation. Kennedy later withdrew his objections and allowed the voting to proceed, with the report quoting him saying it was “the last train leaving the station” and predicting difficulty passing other major bills ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Democrats said funding for DHS should include restraints on federal immigration authorities, including improved identification for officers and more use of judicial warrants. They pointed to a January episode in Minneapolis in which federal agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti and said Trump had agreed in response to a Democratic request to separate the Homeland Security bill from a larger spending measure, but broader talks did not produce an agreement on changes to immigration enforcement tactics.

During a congressional recess, Republicans and House leadership described a two-track approach: passing the Senate bill that would fund most of DHS through regular order while separately using a party-line measure to advance ICE and CBP funding. But the report said House Speaker Mike Johnson has not said when the House will take up the Senate’s legislation that would fund the remainder of DHS, and it remains unclear whether members in his GOP conference will unite behind a narrowed budget bill after disputes over adding other priorities.

Thune warned after the Senate vote that other parts of Homeland Security might run out of money before the full, winding budget process concludes and funds ICE and Border Patrol as well. He said the resolution’s adoption should be a signal to the House that lawmakers “we’re going to be following through,” and he suggested that if the House cannot act, Republicans would move to “the next plan.”