By David Morgan
WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republicans edged on Thursday toward their goal of advancing a $70 billion plan to fund the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agencies for the next three years, while ignoring demands from Democrats for guardrails on immigration enforcement agents and their operations.
The funding plan, laid out in a non-binding budget resolution that Republicans unveiled on Tuesday, is a crucial step in their effort to end a partial shutdown that has gripped the Department of Homeland Security since mid-February.
The Senate began a marathon “vote-a-rama” session late on Wednesday, with votes on a series of proposed amendments ahead of a final vote on passage expected before lawmakers leave Washington on Thursday. Senate passage would send the measure to the House of Representatives.
Eight months before the November midterm elections, which will determine which party controls Congress in the final years of Donald Trump’s presidency, Democrats sought to use the marathon voting session to portray Republicans as out of step with American families and the challenges they face from soaring gasoline prices and healthcare costs.
“America will see even more clearly tonight where the Republicans are: not on the side of lowering costs, but on the side of masked agents occupying our streets,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.
Democrats offered amendments to lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs, restore food assistance for lower-income Americans, prevent the cancellation of health insurance coverage, increase funding for school meals and protect consumers from rising prices driven by tariffs and the war in Iran.
All failed but drew consistent support from a handful of Republicans including Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who face challenging re-election bids in November.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that more than half of Americans are less likely to support candidates who back Trump’s approach to deporting immigrants, while a similar majority say their household finances have taken a hit from soaring gasoline prices. Healthcare tops the list of household costs that voters think Congress should focus on most, polling data shows.
The Senate voted 98-0 to adopt a Republican amendment from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham that would establish a deficit-neutral fund supporting ICE operations to apprehend, detain and expedite the deportation of adults convicted of rape, murder or sexual abuse of a minor after entering the United States illegally.
PLAN TO PUSH FUNDING THROUGH RARELY USED PROCEDURE
Republicans accused Democrats of wanting to “defund” crucial immigration and border security operations.
“Republicans are moving forward with a budget resolution that will allow us to fund critical functions that Democrats refuse to support: law enforcement, drug interdiction, border security, protecting children,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor.
Republicans hope to push the new funding for ICE and Border Patrol through Congress with a rarely used procedure known as budget reconciliation, which allows some budget-related legislation to bypass Democratic opposition.
Such measures require only a simple majority for passage in the 100-member Senate, instead of the usual supermajority of 60 votes or more. Republicans hold a 53-47 seat majority.
If the budget resolution passes both the House and the Senate, congressional committees would begin filling in the details on how the $70 billion would be spent in separate legislation that Trump would have to sign into law.
The new funding would be expected to run through Trump’s presidency, which ends in January 2029.
“Republicans must stick together and UNIFY to get this done,” Trump said in a social media posting on Wednesday.
Funding for most of DHS ran out more than nine weeks ago, as Democrats pressed Republicans and the White House to accept new constraints on ICE and Border Patrol, which operate under the direction of DHS.
After two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis, Democrats insisted that ICE and Border Patrol be subject to the same operational rules as police forces across the United States, including a requirement that judicial warrants be obtained before agents can enter private homes. But weeks of negotiations ended in a stalemate.
The Senate has since passed legislation to fund DHS operations other than ICE and Border Patrol. But the measure has stalled in the House, where hardline Republicans have demanded funding for those two entities as well.
Last year Republicans passed legislation providing around $130 billion in funding for these two agencies, separate from their annual appropriations and the $70 billion now being advanced in Congress.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Michael Learmonth, Edmund Klamann and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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