WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans voted on Thursday to advance a $70 billion plan to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, ignoring demands from Democrats for immigration enforcement guardrails.
Lawmakers voted 50-48 in the predawn hours to adopt the non-binding budget resolution and send it to the U.S. House of Representatives, taking a crucial step forward in their effort to end a partial shutdown that has gripped the Department of Homeland Security since mid-February.
Two Republicans — Sen. Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski — opposed the measure. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine voted with her fellow Republicans, while independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, voted against the plan.
If adopted by the House, the resolution will allow congressional committees to begin filling in the details on how the $70 billion would be spent in separate legislation that President Donald Trump would have to sign into law. The new funding would be expected to run through Trump’s presidency, which ends in January 2029.
With Democrats adamantly opposed to the funding initiative, Republicans plan to employ a rarely used procedure known as budget reconciliation in the separate legislation, which allows some budget-related bills to bypass Democratic opposition in the Senate.
Funding for most of DHS ran out more than nine weeks ago, as Democrats pressed Republicans and the White House to accept new constraints on ICE and Border Patrol, which operate under the direction of DHS.
Collins, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has harshly criticized Democrats over the partial government shutdown, calling it “inexcusable” that the department is shut down during the Iran war. She is in one of the biggest Senate races in the country with progressive newcomer Graham Platner beating Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary.
Her office had not issued a statement on the vote by Thursday morning, while King criticized the funding measure for failing to adopt “any reasonable reforms.”
After two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis and a controversial January enforcement surge into Maine, Democrats insisted that ICE and Border Patrol be subject to the same operational rules as police forces across the United States, including a requirement that judicial warrants be obtained before agents can enter private homes. Weeks of negotiations ended in a stalemate.
The Senate has since passed legislation to fund DHS operations other than ICE and Border Patrol. But the measure has stalled in the House, where hardline Republicans have demanded funding for those two entities as well. Thursday’s Senate vote followed a nearly six-hour “vote-a-rama” session, with votes on a series of proposed amendments.
Eight months before the November midterm elections, which will determine which party controls Congress in the final years of Donald Trump’s presidency, Democrats sought to use the session to portray Republicans as out of step with American families and the challenges they face from soaring gasoline prices and healthcare costs. Republicans accused Democrats of wanting to “defund” crucial immigration and border security operations.
Democrats offered a dozen amendments intended to lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs, restore food assistance for lower-income Americans, prevent the cancellation of health insurance coverage, increase funding for school meals and childcare, protect consumers from rising prices driven by tariffs and the war in Iran, and lower electricity costs for working people.
All failed but drew support from some Republicans, including Collins and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, the latter of whom also faces a challenging reelection bid in November.
Story by David Morgan. BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.
