Senate advances ICE funding plan without Democratic support
The U.S. Senate has passed a budget blueprint that would fund immigration enforcement and move toward ending the partial government shutdown.
After a marathon all-night vote-a-rama, senators approved the measure 50-48, mostly along party lines, advancing roughly $70 billion in new funding without Democratic support. Republicans Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski were the only GOP members to vote no.
The measure now heads to the House, which must pass the same version before lawmakers can move forward with final legislation. Any changes there would send it back to the Senate for another vote.
The details
The plan sets up a filibuster-proof path to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and related agencies through the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term without adding new operational limits.
Democrats offered a series of amendments focused on cost-of-living concerns, but they were all rejected. Democrats attempted to include funding school meals, an increase in federal spending on child care and reversing cuts to SNAP food benefits in the blueprint.
“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,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the measure passed.
Senate Republicans also helped vote down amendments that would have jeopardized the final measure, includes one that would have included elements of President Donald Trump’s controversial SAVE America Act.
Why it doesn’t need Democrats’ votes
Lawmakers passed the budget blueprint through the budget reconciliation process, which allows Republicans in Congress to approve the funds without needing Democratic votes.
Democrats have refused to support funding for immigration enforcement unless there are major protocol changes after two American citizens were shot and killed by federal agents in Minnesota in January.
While the budget reconciliation process does not require Democrats’ votes to get a vill to pass, it means any senator can propose unlimited changes to a measure before it is adopted, triggering a vote-a-rama.
Round out your reading
- Work for food: New SNAP rules reshaping who gets to eat.
- How Iranians actually feel about regime change and war.
- Feds warn that Russians may hack your internet router. Why?
- The truth behind a medical condition that never existed.
- We’re building a new Straight Arrow. Help us shape our future by taking our survey.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
