After a marathon 18-hour series of votes that stretched into the early morning, Senate Republicans on Friday passed their $69.5 billion bill funding immigration enforcement through fiscal year 2029.
The final vote, shortly before 5 a.m. EDT, came after weeks of delays and capped a series of 29 motions and amendment votes in which Republicans fended off multiple attempts to officially kill or redirect a separate $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund announced last month by the Trump administration.
The fund, announced as part of a settlement of President Trump’s extraordinary lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, drew a furious backlash on Capitol Hill and elsewhere as critics warned that it would amount to blatant corruption and self-dealing by the president. Yet a Republican revolt over the fund, which threatened to derail the immigration package, ultimately fizzled out as several amendments to eliminate or redirect the “anti-weaponization” money were defeated. The result was a victory for the administration that nevertheless exposed some deep Republican divisions and left lingering uncertainty over the future of the controversial payout fund.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a member of the so-called YOLO caucus of Republicans who have been targeted for retribution by Trump and are now theoretically free to break with their party, was the deciding vote in rejecting a Democratic motion that would have sent the entire package back to committee. Cassidy reportedly tried for hours to fashion an amendment blocking the “anti-weaponization” fund that could be passed by a simple majority vote. When that effort failed, he offered an amendment that would redirect settlement fund money to compensate law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The amendment failed 52-47, falling short of the 60 votes needed.
Another amendment from Sen. Thom Tillis sought to reallocate $1.7 billion in “anti-weaponization” fund money to fraud enforcement by the Justice Department. It failed in a 15-84 vote.
An amendment that would have blocked construction of Trump’s ballroom fell seven votes shy of the 60 needed but drew support from seven Republicans. Three Republicans backed an amendment that would have effectively barred Bill Pulte, Trump’s pick for acting director of national intelligence, from serving in the role while still leading another federal agency.
In the end, the small band of Republican rebels angry over the “anti-weaponization” fund supported the broader reconciliation bill without any language to officially kill the $1.8 billion plan. The larger immigration funding measure passed in a 52-47 vote that saw only one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, oppose the package.
“While I support funding to secure our borders and protect the homeland, I do not support bypassing the annual appropriations process by providing funding for multiple years in a manner that diminishes both congressional direction and oversight,” Murkowski said in a statement. “By choosing to appropriate funding for three fiscal years instead of one, this measure weakens the normal budgeting process and sets another precedent for avoiding it when we find ourselves in disagreement.”
Murkowski added that she wanted the package to provide one year of immigration funding, limit how the money would be used and prohibit any taxpayer dollars from going to the “anti-weaponization” fund.
Democrats blasted the Republicans for failing to nix the payout fund and criticized their willingness to trust the word of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who told lawmakers this week that the Justice Department would not move forward with the fund. President Trump later told reporters that he wasn’t sure if the plan was really dead and that he thought it was “very important” and a “beautiful thing.”
“Republicans refused to permanently outlaw Trump’s $2 billion slush fund, leaving taxpayers to rely on nothing more than a promise from Donald Trump’s personal fixer. That is not accountability. That is a permission slip,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “They pumped another $70 billion into Trump’s personal police force, defended Trump’s corrupt ballroom, and protected his slush fund for cop-beaters— all while voting against Senate Democrats’ efforts to lower the cost of housing, health care, gas, and childcare.”
The bill would provide $38.5 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $26 billion for Customs and Border Protection and an extra $5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans took out a controversial proposal to provide $1 billion for the Secret Service, including security funding for President Trump’s White House ballroom. They also cut a $1.5 billion provision for the Justice Department.
The bill now heads to the House, where GOP leaders canceled Friday votes, pushing off consideration of the reconciliation package until next week.
Why it matters: Trump’s political agenda has repeatedly threatened to derail the immigration funding bill and the GOP’s larger legislative agenda, spurring legislative fights that delayed a package the president wanted on his desk by June 1. Republicans have been forced to address the ballroom funding issue, the “anti-weaponization” fund and, most recently, the controversial Pulte appointment. Despite all that, Republicans are close to closing this chapter in the long-running battle over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics and Democratic demands for reforms to ICE and CBP, which led to the 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year.