The Senate voted 50-48 early Thursday morning to adopt a budget resolution that would allow Republicans to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol through a partisan reconciliation bill, bypassing the 60-vote threshold required to defeat a Democratic filibuster.
The vote came after a six-hour session that stretched into the early morning hours. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rand Paul (R-KY) were the only Republicans to vote against the measure. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) did not vote, citing personal reasons.
The resolution now heads to the House, where its future is uncertain.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) acknowledged the difficulty of getting even this far. “It didn’t seem like this should be that heavy a lift,” he told reporters early Thursday. “But nothing is easy these days.”
Thune confirmed that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has not agreed to adopt the Senate’s version of the budget resolution in its current form, setting up a potential standoff between the two chambers.
House Republicans are pushing back hard. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX), and Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) have all called for expanding the reconciliation bill beyond its current narrow scope of ICE and Border Patrol funding.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) was blunt. “The Senate’s skinny budget only funding ICE and CBP will not pass the House,” he wrote. “The House GOP must FULLY fund DHS. The Senate’s baseline of zero for ICE and CBP is unacceptable.”
The resolution’s limited scope stems from the dynamics of the current Senate. Democrats have refused to agree to any DHS funding through regular order, forcing Republicans to pursue the reconciliation route, which only requires 51 votes in the Senate but limits what can be included under Senate rules.
Under reconciliation, lawmakers can only attach provisions that have a direct budgetary effect. That constraint has frustrated House Republicans who want to use the vehicle to fund border wall construction, hire more immigration judges, and expand detention capacity beyond what ICE and CBP operations alone would cover.
The standoff reflects a broader tension between Senate Republicans, who have pushed for a narrower “skinny” reconciliation focused on immediate law enforcement funding, and House conservatives who see the package as their best legislative opportunity to lock in sweeping border security wins before the next election cycle.
Democrats blocked all amendments during the Senate’s voting session, which stretched from late Wednesday into Thursday morning. No Democratic senators voted for the measure. The party has argued that Republicans should work through regular appropriations channels rather than using reconciliation to bypass the traditional legislative process.
The resolution does not itself appropriate any money. It sets the framework that allows Republicans to draft a separate reconciliation bill funding ICE and CBP, which would then need to pass both chambers and be signed by President Trump.
Whether the House will accept the Senate’s narrower framework or insist on a broader vehicle remains the central question heading into the next phase of negotiations.
