WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is working through the night as Republicans are trying to pass funding for two immigration enforcement agencies over Democratic objections and reopen the Department of Homeland Security.
The lengthy session is the first step in a complicated process as Republicans seek to work around Democrats’ blockade of the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. The entire Homeland Security Department has been shut down for more than two months as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents.
Republicans are now trying to fund the two agencies through the time-consuming process called budget reconciliation, a maneuver that they also used to pass President Donald Trump’s package of tax and spending cuts last year with no Democratic votes. The Senate has already voted on a bipartisan basis to reopen the rest of the department, but Republican leaders in the House say they won’t take that bill up until the Senate shows progress toward funding ICE and Border Patrol, as well.
The budget process only requires a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing filibuster rules that require Republicans to find 60 votes on most bills when they only hold 53 seats. But it also comes with increased scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian and an open-ended series of amendment votes that could take all night to work through.
Democrats have said they will offer amendments to lower expenses for health care and other costs of living in an effort to contrast with Republicans’ focus on Trump’s campaign of immigration enforcement.
Republicans are “bending the knee to Donald Trump,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the votes.
The Senate is expected to pass the budget framework after the lengthy vote series, likely early Thursday morning, and send it to the House. Once the House approves the framework and the Senate Parliamentarian approves it, the two chambers can then move to pass the measure.
The $70 billion resolution would fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years, through the rest of Trump’s term. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other GOP leaders say they hope to keep the bill narrowly focused on ICE and Border Patrol and get it to Trump’s desk by the end of the month, along with the rest of Homeland Security Department funding that has already passed the Senate.
But that could prove difficult as many in the party see the budget bill as the last real chance this year to enact their priorities. Republicans in both the Senate and House have pushed to add other items, including money for farmers and Trump’s proof of citizenship voting bill, called the SAVE America Act.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., briefly held up the vote series late Wednesday, frustrated that the bill would not include parts of the SAVE America Act or other issues.
“This is the last train leaving the station,” Kennedy said, predicting they would not be able to pass any other legislation ahead of November’s midterm elections. But he withdrew his objections and allowed the voting to proceed.
