Funding ICE and Border Control

Senate GOP to Begin Process for Funding ICE, Border Patrol Next Week

This comes amid the Department of Homeland Security having been shut down for 59 days

Senate Republicans are planning a vote as soon as next week on a budget blueprint that would pave the way for a party-line vote to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) announced on April 14.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for 59 days. While ICE and CBP are funded due to last year’s tax-and-spend megabill, agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have been without funding due to deadlock over Senate Democrats’ demands for reforms to immigration enforcement.

A bill to fund all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol has passed the Senate and is pending in the House.

Separately, Republicans are looking to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years, or the rest of President Donald Trump’s administration, through a process called reconciliation.

This allows bills related to taxing, spending, and the national debt to pass the Senate with a simple majority and not be subject to the 60-vote procedural threshold that applies to most legislation.

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