It took 18 hours of debate, but when they were finished, Senate Republicans approved $70 billion in funding on Friday for immigration enforcement, which extends the money through the rest of President Donald Trump's term.
The vote was nearly unanimous on the GOP side, with a lone Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voting against it.
The bill advances to the House of Representatives where it's expected to be voted on next week. It directs billions to expand federal immigration enforcement operations, providing resources to hire new agents, deport at mass scale, and significantly ramp up the administration's mass deportation agenda. It also extends operational funding for ICE and Border Patrol for three years.
Crucially, this money was cut out of the deal that Republicans struck with Democrats to reopen the government amid concerns that ICE agents were running amok in some U.S. cities. But the vote became a referendum on Trump's so-called 'slush fund.'
So, while returning the money is a win for the GOP, the long vote process highlighted a schism in the party over a recently rejected Trump Administration plan for the president to have a $1.8 billion fund that he could use to pay people he felt had been badly treated by past administrations. Many were concerned those getting payments would include Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
As part of this funding package, "Democrats orchestrated votes seeking to force Republicans to weigh in for the record on unpopular moves the president has made," the New York Times reported, including the fund they were forced to back away from after an outcry.
"People are concerned about paying their mortgage or rent, affording groceries and paying for gas, not about putting together a $1.8 billion fund for the President and his allies to pay whomever they wish with no legal precedent or accountability," Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., wrote on X.
Cassidy is a lame duck senator, having recently lost his reelection race when Trump urged people to vote for his challenger, essentially because Cassidy had voted to impeach him in his last term. He proposed as debate rage on that the fund be allocated so it's only available to law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 assault. It was defeated by his own party.
As debate dragged on overnight, NPR reported Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, tried to send the bill back to the Senate Judiciary Committee to force Republicans to vote specifically whether to approve or deny the fund.
"He had support from three Republicans up for re-election this November: Susan Collins of Maine, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Jon Husted of Ohio," NPR reported, adding, "Republican senators also offered amendments to limit the fund, including an effort from Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., to redirect funds towards fraud enforcement."
Eight GOP senators supported an amendment that would prevent payouts from the fund to Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
But in the end, none of the proposals related to the 'anti-weaponization' fund garnered the 60-vote majority to make it into the vote for the reconciliation budget.
"(The vote) was a victory for the president and his party, who have been eager to spotlight their hard-line immigration stance — and Democrats’ opposition to it — in the middle of an election year when their control of Congress is at stake," the New York Times reported about the immigration bill.
"But passage came only after Republican leaders quelled an internal revolt that had been simmering for weeks over recent moves by Mr. Trump that have underscored how his personal agenda is diverging sharply from his party’s political interests."
