The Senate passed a $70 billion budget reconciliation package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through 2029 — the end of President Trump’s term — by a vote of 52-47 following an 18-hour overnight vote-a-rama session [1][2]. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the only Republican to vote against the legislation [1]. All Democrats who voted opposed the measure [2]. The bill uses the congressional reconciliation process, which requires only a simple majority in the Senate and bypasses the 60-vote filibuster threshold that applies to standard legislation [2]. Speaker Mike Johnson announced plans to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote during the week of June 8, 2026 [1].

A last-minute revision to the package dropped language that would have provided $1 billion in security funding tied to renovations at the White House’s East Wing, including a large ballroom [2]. Multiple Democratic and Republican amendments that would have permanently banned Trump’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” settlement fund were defeated during the vote-a-rama session [2]. A separate amendment incorporating the SAVE Act — which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote — was blocked 48-50, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and Thom Tillis voting against it [1]. The bill now heads to a House with a narrow Republican majority where leadership is counting votes ahead of the anticipated floor action this week [1].

Why It Sucks:

Immigration Enforcement Advocates

• The Senate stripped the SAVE Act — proof-of-citizenship voter registration — from the bill rather than fight to include it, delivering a major enforcement priority that Trump’s base had demanded in exchange for accepting a bill that contained no new interior enforcement mandates [1].
• The $70 billion funds existing ICE and CBP operations but includes no new accountability measures, leaving the same management structure that immigration hawks have long criticized for inefficiency in place with a massive budget increase [2].
• With the anti-weaponization fund amendments defeated and the SAVE Act dropped, the bill’s conservative critics argue Republican leadership gave away every legislative chip they had and still ended up with a narrower bill than what was originally proposed [1].

Immigration Rights Advocates

• Providing $70 billion in dedicated, multi-year funding for ICE and CBP outside the normal annual appropriations process insulates immigration enforcement from the congressional oversight and budget debates that are the primary mechanism through which Congress checks executive agency behavior [3].
• The reconciliation process bypassed the 60-vote Senate threshold that would have forced a bipartisan negotiation with input from the minority — the bill’s entire enforcement apparatus was written and passed exclusively by one party [2].
• Locking in $70 billion through 2029 regardless of any change in political conditions — economic downturns, court rulings, or shifts in public opinion — means enforcement infrastructure will be expanding even if the underlying policy direction is later repudiated by voters [3].

Fiscal Conservatives

• Using the reconciliation process — which was designed for deficit-reduction measures — to appropriate $70 billion in new mandatory spending sets a precedent that either party can exploit to fund any government operation outside the normal appropriations process whenever it holds a Senate majority [2].
• The bill funds ICE and CBP through 2029 regardless of whether the funding is actually needed or efficiently spent, locking in a spending baseline with no annual review mechanism of the kind that appropriations bills require [1].
• Republican leadership dropped the White House ballroom funding after public backlash but kept the bill’s total price tag nearly intact — demonstrating that fiscal discipline was never the driving consideration, only political optics [1][2].

Sources & Citations:

[1] Fox News: Trump scores victory despite growing GOP divide after Senate passes $70B ICE, Border Patrol funding package
[2] NPR: Senate passes $70B immigration enforcement bill without limits on Trump settlement fund
[3] American Immigration Council: Senate Pushes Ahead with $70 Billion More for ICE and CBP, Excluding Accountability Measures