Senate Republicans muscled a budget blueprint through the chamber early Thursday that would unleash up to $140 billion for immigration enforcement agencies frozen out since mid-February, when the Department of Homeland Security ran out of money.
The 50-48 vote broke almost entirely along party lines, with all Democrats opposed. Two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky, also voted no. The passage clears a path for Congress to write legislation pumping massive funding into Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, the two agencies driving Trump's mass deportation campaign.
Shutdown fallout from a pair of deadly federal actions has poisoned negotiations. In January, agents killed two U.S. citizens during an intensive immigration sweep in Minneapolis, prompting Democrats to demand operational reforms. Talks stalled after the Trump administration and Senate Republicans rejected a Democratic proposal banning masked federal agents and requiring warrants to detain people.
"We have a multi-step process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America's borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The budget resolution now moves to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled willingness to advance a separate, bipartisan measure funding the rest of DHS operations excluding ICE and CBP. Johnson has insisted on sequencing the votes carefully to avoid leaving other homeland security functions stranded.
"Sequencing is important. We have to make sure we don't isolate and make an orphan out of key agencies of the department," Johnson said Tuesday.
Democrats deployed an amendment process called "vote-a-rama" to stage a counter-offensive centered on middle-class pocketbook issues. They offered amendments addressing grocery prices and health care costs, hoping to reset the November election narrative. Vulnerable Republican incumbents Susan Collins of Maine and Dan Sullivan of Alaska backed those amendments, but they fell short of passage.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer lambasted the budget move, accusing Republicans of prioritizing enforcement over economic relief. "Tonight, Senate Republicans showed the American people where they stand: Not for families struggling with the high costs of childcare, groceries, and gasoline, electricity, but for pumping $140 billion towards rogue agencies," he said.
Republicans are using the reconciliation process to sidestep a Democratic filibuster. The procedural maneuver allows them to approve spending through a simple majority without needing any Democratic votes.
Author James Rodriguez: "Republicans burned the bipartisan bridge on this one, and now they're betting $140 billion that voters care more about enforcement than kitchen-table economics."
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