Senate FINALLY advances DHS, ICE funding in 50-48 vote

The Senate has passed a $70 billion budget plan to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as Border Patrol in the latest attempt to end a partial government shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security.

The bill sets up a framework for funding ICE, CBP, and DHS. If it becomes law, it will fund both agencies until the end of Donald Trump's term. The bill passed 50 to 48 and will now go to the House in what has been a months-long slog to end a partial government shutdown at DHS. 

The bill was passed through one of the steps in the reconciliation process, a legislative maneuver that allows lawmakers to pass budgetary measures without having to clear a 60-vote threshold to avoid the filibuster. 

"We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America’s borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota. The vote came down at 3:30 am early Thursday morning.

DHS has had a partial government shutdown since February 14. At the same time, Democrats have been demanding policy changes with ICE after there were fatal shootings of left-wing agitators in Minnesota during encounters with ICE and Border Patrol.

In the case of Renee Good, she had been driving her car into an ICE agent. In the case of Alex Pretti, he had a gun on his person in the moments leading up to the shooting as he was resisting officers. Just before he was shot, he was disarmed, and an agent yelled that he had a gun.

Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky joined with the 46 Democrats and voted against the funding for ICE and Border Patrol. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democrat Senator Mark Warner from Virginia did not vote.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in response, “Instead of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into ICE and Border Patrol, Republicans should be working with Democrats to lower out-of-pocket costs."

Last month, the Senate approved a bill to reopen DHS without funding for ICE and Border Patrol. However, that was not brought to the floor at the time, with House Speaker Mike Johnson saying that the bill had to fund both the agencies.