Senate bypasses Democrats to pass $70 billion for ICE

Senate clears the bill after an overnight slog

The Senate approved a $70 billion package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection early Friday morning, voting 52-47 after an all-night amendment session that ran for more than 18 hours. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the only Republican to vote no on final passage. The measure now goes to the House. Democrats had spent months trying to block long-term funding, which helped create the longest Homeland Security funding lapse in recent memory. Republicans then used the reconciliation process, the legislative equivalent of finding the side door after the front entrance is locked, to move the bill with a simple majority instead of the usual 60 votes.

Democrats tried to add enforcement limits

During the fight, Democrats pushed for judicial warrants in immigration-related arrests, limits on masked federal agents, and restrictions on certain enforcement operations. None of those demands made it into the final bill. They also tried to use the overnight amendment process to force votes on President Trump’s proposed settlement fund and the White House ballroom project, but those efforts failed too. The strategy looked less like lawmaking and more like an extended exercise in making everyone stay up late and pretend that is a governing achievement. In the end, Republicans kept the money and Democrats kept the talking points, which is often the only currency that survives a Washington debate.

Republicans say the agencies needed the money

Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana said Republicans did not need to accept Democratic conditions. He argued that Democrats “side with illegals over American citizens every chance they get” and said reconciliation let Republicans avoid demands that would have tied the hands of federal law enforcement. Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey also criticized the warrant proposal, saying it did not make mechanical sense because ICE arrests do not work like ordinary judicial warrant cases. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the bill a giveaway to Trump and said Republicans chose “more money for Donald Trump, more power for Donald Trump, and nothing to lower costs for working families.” Both sides, as usual, claimed they were saving the country while the other side was ruining it, which is Washington’s favorite form of cardio.

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