Senate Republicans approve budget measure, teeing up bill to fund ICE, CBP

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans voted early Thursday morning to approve a budget measure that would pave the way for funding Immigration, Customs and Border Patrol without any Democratic support.

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The vote was 50 to 48 after a marathon session last night.

The budget does not have the force of law on its own, but it directs committees to begin drafting a bill authorizing $70 billion in funds for ICE and Border Patrol while bypassing the filibuster.

It could also pave the way for House Republicans to pass the Senate-approved bipartisan bill to fund the rest of the Department of Homeland Security, ending a record months-long shutdown. House Republican leaders said they want to see action on the budget before passing the Senate-passed DHS bill.

Months of bipartisan negotiations to end the DHS shutdown failed as Republicans rejected Democrats’ demands to limit immigration enforcement operations after the killing of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by immigration enforcement agents.

As a result, Republicans are now considering using what’s called a “budget reconciliation” process to fund these immigration enforcement agencies without any of the policy changes Democrats have demanded, such as mandating body cameras and limiting raids on sensitive locations like schools and hospitals.

“We have a multi-step process ahead of us, but in the end, Republicans will have helped ensure America’s borders are secure and stopped Democrats from defunding these important agencies,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

Democrats have accused the Republican Party of upending the appropriations process to protect “rogue” ICE agents and failing to reduce costs for the average American.

“America, this is what Republicans are fighting for: maintaining two unchecked rogue agencies that are feared in every corner of the country instead of reducing your health care costs, your housing costs, your grocery costs, your gasoline costs,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor.

The Senate’s vote-a-rama process featured an unlimited number of amendments – the price of getting around the 60-vote threshold. Democrats used it to coerce Republican senators into difficult votes and to secure politically notable defections.

The first amendment, put to a vote by Schumer, sought to “create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that would not reduce out-of-pocket health care spending.” Republicans rejected it and it failed by a vote of 48 to 50, but it won the support of Senators Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska.

Both are politically vulnerable, facing some of the most competitive re-election bids of any Republican this fall.

Another amendment from Sen. Jon Ossoff, Democrat of Georgia, who is running for re-election in a divided state, “would create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that does not address the practice of insurance companies stepping between patients and their doctors to delay or deny access to care.” He failed 49-49, but won the votes of Collins, Sullivan and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

The Republicans will have to retain 50 of their 53 members to pass the bill resulting from the process.