US Senate passes $70bn ICE funding bill: What comes next?

EXPLAINER

Republicans walk cardinal Trump inaugural aft marathon vote-a-rama, debar barring arguable 'anti-weaponisation' fund.

The United States Senate has passed a measure agelong sought by US President Donald Trump to supply an further $70bn successful backing to his arguable migration enforcement drive.

The measure passed aboriginal Friday greeting volition supply backing to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) passim Trump’s term, adding to a monolithic windfall for some Department of Homeland Security agencies successful a taxation measure passed past year.

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The backing measure transition successful the Senate, wherever Republicans clasp a 53-seat bulk successful the 100-seat chamber, comes amid months of delays spurred by staunch Democratic absorption to further backing the agencies down Trump’s wide deportation drive.

It culminated successful a alleged “vote-a-rama” which saw Democrats unit a bid of votes connected politically fraught issues for Republicans, notably an amendment to barroom Trump from ever launching a arguable “anti-weaponisation fund” his Department of Justice introduced, and past backmost distant from, successful caller weeks.

The backing measure present heads to the House, wherever Republicans besides clasp a slim majority. If passed there, it volition caput to Trump’s table to beryllium signed into law.

What happens next?

The House is expected to instrumentality up the measure adjacent week, according to Republican leaders. With the enactment holding a 217 to 212 bulk implicit Democrats, its transition is considered likely.

While Trump has faced expanding discontent from immoderate members of his party, peculiarly implicit his handling of the warfare with Iran, his requests for information backing for his White House ballroom, and the Department of Justice’s “anti-weaponisation” fund, backing for migration enforcement maintains wide Republican support.

As of Friday, nary large Republican efforts to reason the measure, oregon information its transition connected different legislative priorities, had emerged.

Why did the backing instrumentality truthful agelong to pass?

Democrats coalesced successful absorption to further backing for migration enforcement agencies successful January, pursuing the sidesplitting of 2 US citizens by ICE and Border Patrol agents successful Minneapolis, Minnesota that month.

A Trump-backed taxation measure passed successful 2025 had already allocated $170bn to national agencies, including ICE and CBP, to enactment the president’s wide deportation drive, which polls person shown has go progressively unpopular among voters.

The standoff led to a 76-day Department of Homeland Security shutdown, which ended with Congress passing a partial backing measure successful precocious April.

Still, Democrats had continued to garbage to supply further backing for ICE and CBP. That forced Senate Republicans to usage a lengthy legislative manoeuvre to bypass the 60-vote threshold needed to flooded a filibuster.

However, the process, known arsenic fund reconciliation, opened the doorway to a alleged “vote-a-rama”, an hours-long play erstwhile Senators could present rapid-fire amendments to the bill.

Parties not successful the bulk historically person utilized the “vote-a-rama” to unit votes connected politically fraught issues, forcing members of the opposing enactment to spell connected the grounds with their stance.

No barroom to Trump’s colony fund

Democrats utilized the proceedings connected Thursday to use unit related to Trump’s so-called “anti-weaponisation fund”.

The Department of Justice announced the program successful May, saying it was funded via a colony betwixt Trump and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The money was acceptable astatine the symbolic fig of $1.776bn, a notation to the 1776 signing of the US Declaration of Independence.

Trump has said radical who believed they were the taxable of politically motivated national prosecutions could use for recompensation via the fund, including his supporters convicted of storming the US Capitol connected January 6, 2021.

Democrats person called the strategy a “slush fund” for Trump’s allies. Several Republicans person besides travel retired successful absorption to the plan, which the Department of Justice has said it has since abandoned.

Three Republicans joined Democrats successful supporting an amendment to barroom the fund, portion six Republicans supported an amendment by Republican Senator Thom Tillis to barroom the program and repurpose the funding. Both failed to pass.

Three different unsuccessful proposals related to Trump’s White House ballroom.

Trump had initially said the arguable task would not beryllium funded by taxpayers, but has since requested $1bn from Congress for security.