In the early-morning hours, U.S. senators passed $70 billion legislation to fund immigration enforcement through the remainder of the Trump administration.
The bill still must pass the House of Representatives before going to the president.
The bill passed 52-47 along party lines, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joining Democrats in opposing it. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, did not vote.
Both of West Virginia’s senators, Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice, voted in favor of the legislation.
“If your house doesn’t have a secure front door, you don’t really have a house. The exact same goes for our country. For too long, we’ve watched the chaos at the border spiral into an absolute mess. Our Border Patrol and ICE do an incredible job, and it’s ridiculous to tie both hands behind their backs,” Justice, R-W.Va., said in a statement.
“Today, I joined my Republican colleagues in restoring common sense and voting to fund these agencies and their necessary resources. It’s a no-brainer for me when it comes to securing our border, cutting off the flow of deadly fentanyl, and putting the American people first.”
The budget reconciliation package would fund federal immigration enforcement agencies through fiscal 2029. With reconciliation, the bill required only a simple majority to bypass the 60-vote Senate filibuster, aiming to unblock previous Democratic funding freezes.
The package provides about $38 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and $26 billion for Customs and Border Protection to sustain and expand deportation, detention and border operations.
A revised version of the bill dropped language that originally included $1 billion for Secret Service security upgrades, including renovations for President Trump’s planned White House ballroom.
“While reconciliation is not the ideal process for funding critical government operations like DHS, Senate Democrats left us no choice by refusing to join us in providing ICE and CBP with the tools and support they need to do their jobs,” said Capito, R-W.Va.
“This legislation ensures that those who protect our homeland have long-term reliable funding to keep our communities safe. It also guarantees that Democrats can no longer hold funding for law enforcement and border security hostage during President Trump’s administration.”
The final vote came after an 18-hour “vote-a-rama” that included a series of amendments, including a proposal to block creation of a controversial $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who claim they were wrongfully prosecuted or investigated.
Democrats had offered an amendment that would have sent the bill back to committee with instructions to add language preventing such a fund.
Capito, the fourth ranking Republican in the Senate, expressed high confidence during public appearances this week that the “anti-weaponization fund” is already dead and will not be pursued in the future.
The senator said she is very confident in the word of acting Attorney General Todd Blanch, who testified under oath that the Department of Justice is not moving forward with the fund.
“I’m very confident that the acting attorney general not just gave his word, but was very definitive in his language, that it’s dead, it won’t come back, they’ll not be pursuing it in the future. So I am very confident that that’s the last that we’ll see of that,” Capito said on MetroNews Talkline.
President Trump this week declined to close the door on the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, telling reporters in Washington, D.C., that he did not know if the fund was dead and would “have to ask the lawyers.” He continued to defend the initiative, calling it “a beautiful thing.”
“I love it. I think it’s so important,” he said.