The Senate passed a budget resolution early Thursday morning that clears the path for Republicans to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection without Democratic support. The 50-48 vote came just after 3:30 a.m. Eastern, following roughly five hours of procedural voting.
The resolution now moves to the House for adoption before a final funding bill can be drafted and voted on in both chambers. President Trump has set a June 1 deadline for final passage.
Senate Republicans launched the effort this week using the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party to advance legislation with direct budgetary consequences through a simple majority vote. With a 53-seat majority, Republicans can sidestep the 60-vote threshold required for most Senate legislation, effectively shutting Democrats out of the process entirely.
The resolution authorizes the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees to draft legislation increasing spending by up to $70 billion each. Republicans say those figures are designed to give the committees flexibility, and the final bill's price tag is expected to land around $70 billion total. The funding would cover ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection for more than three years, keeping the agencies funded through the remainder of the Trump administration.
Before the vote, the chamber conducted a "vote-a-rama," an open-ended amendment process in which senators can force vote after vote with no limit on the number of amendments offered. Democrats began forcing votes on a series of amendments shortly after 9:30 p.m. ET, many focused on cost-of-living issues.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer framed the overnight session as a political opportunity rather than a last stand. "This will be a reconciliation of contrasts, and we are relishing that fight," he said at a Wednesday news conference. "Republicans want to shell out billions of dollars to Donald Trump's private army without any common-sense restraints or reforms. Democrats want to put money in people's pockets by lowering their costs."
Schumer predicted the vote would cost Republicans politically. "This will be a reconciliation of reckoning for Senate Republicans," he added.
Democrats had demanded reforms to DHS immigration enforcement practices as a condition of their support. Republicans rejected those demands and moved ahead without them.
