The Senate voted 53-46 Wednesday afternoon to begin formal consideration of a roughly $70 billion immigration enforcement package that would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, kicking off a marathon amendment process before a final passage vote expected later this week.
The procedural vote ends weeks of delay triggered by the Trump administration’s surprise proposal for a nearly $2 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, announced last month as part of a settlement between the Trump family and the Internal Revenue Service. Republicans pushed back hard, fearing people convicted of assaulting police officers during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot could access the taxpayer-funded pool without proper guardrails.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said keeping the caucus together through the coming vote-a-rama is the overriding concern.
“Hopefully, all of our members who have amendment ideas will, as they think through that, and they have the opportunities to have conversations about their ideas, keep in mind we need to keep the bill together and make sure we’ve got 50 votes for it,” Thune said, as per Fox News.
The path to Wednesday’s vote was cleared after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified under oath that the administration was “not moving forward with the fund.” That testimony satisfied enough Republicans to restart the bill, but at least one key senator is still undecided on final passage.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he wants a guarantee that his amendment to permanently bar any future “anti-weaponization” fund will at least receive a floor vote. Without that, he said final passage looks difficult.
“I mean, I think we got to know this is a huge political liability,” Tillis told reporters. “I said it was stupid on stilts a week or two ago.”
Senate Democrats said they plan to make the vote-a-rama as difficult as possible, with amendments targeting the $2 billion fund, U.S. involvement in the war with Iran, and economic affordability.
“Whenever we go into a vote-a-rama, Democrats will be ready,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.
Republican leaders expressed confidence that the party-line cloture vote showed enough unity to get the bill across the finish line. But several senators who objected to the anti-weaponization fund have not publicly committed to supporting final passage.
The $70 billion package is the Republicans’ second stand-alone reconciliation push, designed to pump money into immigration enforcement agencies. Final passage in the Senate would send the bill to the House.
