Senate begins voting on Republican bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol amid GOP split on Trump’s $1.8B fund
WASHINGTON — The Senate began voting Thursday on a $70 billion bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of President Donald Trump’s term.
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Republicans plan to pass the bill without any Democratic support. But first, they’ll have to endure a “vote-a-rama” during which senators from either party can offer amendments, which Democrats will use to make Republicans take painful votes.
There were some early signs of trouble — and no clear end-game to pass the bill — as the first Democratic amendment was held open by GOP leaders for more than two hours.
The amendment by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., seeks to ban the Justice Department from setting up a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund sought by Trump, which has sparked bipartisan blowback. Democrats and some Republicans see it as a “slush fund” to funnel taxpayer money to pay Jan. 6 rioters and other Trump allies.
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The contentious issue forced Republicans to abandon plans to take up the bill two weeks ago. But problems have lingered as the Trump administration gives mixed signals about the fund.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified before Congress on Tuesday that the administration is “not moving forward with the fund.” But Trump said he’s not ready to do away with it yet. “The weaponization fund, as far as I’m concerned, was a beautiful thing,” the president told reporters Wednesday. “I love it. I think it’s so important.”
As a result, some Republicans want to attachan amendment to the funding bill to restrict any such fund — but without scuttling the underlying legislation.
“When you’re explaining, you’re losing. There’s no way to explain the $1.776 [billion] fund. So, the only way you can explain it is explain that you got rid of it. It’s that simple,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has shopped around an amendment with colleagues to prohibit it.
He said fellow GOP senators should join him, warning of the potency of the issue for those facing re-election. (Tillis is retiring at the end of this term).
“I think that the Republicans should do the stump speech test on this issue, particularly the ones who are in cycle. ‘I stand solidly behind an administration that wants to potentially provide compensation to people who assaulted Capitol Police officers. I stand fully behind that.’ Test that on the stump and see how it works out for you,” Tillis told NBC News.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she has spoken with Tillis about some kind of legislative fix.
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“I’m in the camp that wants to see it dead, dead, dead,” she said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who just lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, has also said he wants to block the fund. On Thursday, he signed onto with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., laying out a detailed argument against the constitutionality of the fund and calling it “an immediate and dire threat to our constitutional order and the authority of Congress.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he has “a favorable opinion” of the Tillis amendment, which he said “lays it out that there are certain limitations, and a limitation on what those funds can be used for.”
Democrats insist they won’t let up on the issue.
“Trump’s slush fund is anything but beautiful — it’s heinous, and it won’t die until we permanently ban it by law. Not by language, not by verbal promises, which can just evaporate, but by law,” Schumer said Thursday. “With the whole country watching, Republicans will have to choose: either support the slush fund or ban it. They can come up with 10 excuses, it’s a yes or no: support the slush fund or ban it.”
Schumer vowed that Democrats would also force votes on undoing a provision in Trump’s settlement with the IRS that prohibits the agency from auditing him or his family in the future.
Other Republicans say they trust Blanche that the administration won’t try to revive the weaponization fund.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said Thursday that she would “probably not” support an amendment to bar it “because the administration has already done away with it, so there’s no sense beating a dead horse.”
It’s a puzzle for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., whose goal is to keep at least 50 out of the 53 Republican senators on board for an ICE and Border Patrol funding bill that can pass and get Trump’s signature.
“It’s a simple bill,” Thune said. “It will do nothing more than fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the next three years. And why are we doing this bill? … Because Democrats have refused to fund border security or immigration law enforcement.”
Democrats have said they will not fund ICE or Border Patrol unless Republicans agree to new limits on the agencies after officers killed two Americans in Minnesota, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
The House is expected to vote on the bill after it passes the Senate, although it’s unclear when that would occur.
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