Federal immigration agents were at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on March 23, 2026, to assist with airport security during the Department of Homeland Security shutdown. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
WASHINGTON – Republicans in the U.S. Senate approved a budget resolution early Thursday that would pave the way for billions of dollars in immigration enforcement, sending the measure to the House of Representatives, where Republican lawmakers in that chamber must pass it to start the reconciliation process.
The 50-48 votes What followed was a marathon vote on amendments that Democrats used to highlight political differences on cost-of-living issues and stall federal emergency aid to states.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul were the two Republicans who voted against approving the measure. Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Mark Warner, D-Va., did not vote.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said shortly before voting began that Democrats would put Republicans on the record rising cost of living and that of the Trump administration crackdown by immigration authorities.
“America will see even more clearly tonight where Republicans stand — not on the side of cost-cutting, but on the side of the masked agents occupying our streets,” he said.
The Republicans are planning the operation the sophisticated process of budget reconciliationthereby avoiding the need for Democratic support in the Senate to provide between $70 billion and $140 billion in additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Protection.
The money will fund these agencies for the next three years so that Republicans don’t have to negotiate with Democrats over restrictions on immigration activity, as has already happened calls for guard rails since federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January.
Combined with the Senate-passed bill that provides the expansive majority of funding for the Department of Homeland Security for the current fiscal year, the two pieces of legislation are expected to end the ongoing gridlock at that department that began in mid-February.
One amendment was accepted and 15 were rejected
Senators ultimately debated 16 amendments, 12 from Democrats and four from Republicans. The only proposal approved came from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, which senators approved 98-0 vote.
The proposal would create a reserve fund to strengthen federal immigration authorities’ ability to arrest and deport adults who entered the country without proper documentation and were then convicted of rape, murder or sexual abuse of a minor.
“Everyone on this board should be in favor of it,” Graham said. “These people must be caught, put in prison or driven from our country.”
Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said he supported the amendment because “under current law, undocumented immigrants convicted of rape, murder or sexual abuse of a minor are subject to mandatory detention and deportation.”
“We are protesting what is happening on the streets of Minneapolis and Chicago,” he added.
SAVE America Act repealed
Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy tried, but ultimately failed, to persuade his colleagues to add novel instructions to the budget resolution that would have allowed the Rules and Administration Committee to draft voter identification legislation.
Kennedy said he wanted this bill to contain three provisions.
“Require that in federal elections you must be an American citizen to vote, and provide provisions to enforce that. Second, in federal elections, you would be required to prove that you are who you say you are in order to vote, and there would be provisions in place to enforce that,” he said. “Third, it also directs the Rules Committee that we will once again have an election day rather than an election month, and it directs the Rules Committee to provide the provisions to enforce this.”
California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, the rules panel’s ranking member, rejected the amendment during debate, saying he couldn’t believe lawmakers were once again witnessing what I call a “partisan attempt to impose a solution in search of a problem.”
“Despite the president’s claims, there is no evidence of massive voter fraud across the country, which is the premise of these proposals,” he said. “So it is not just a solution to a problem, to put it in the words of a wise man, this measure is all foam and not beer.”
Padilla added that a provision in Kennedy’s amendment would have required states to count ballots within 36 hours of an election, a novel mandate that he said could cause significant problems for larger states with millions of voters.
“It is unfortunate that election administration has become a partisan affair,” he said. “In fact, I’m asking our colleagues to protect early voters, not just in my state, but in yours. Let’s protect mail-in voting options, not just in my state, but in yours too. Let’s protect women who are married and change their names and voting rights, not just in my state, but in yours too.”
Senators did not agree to waive a point of order against Kennedy’s amendment by a vote of 48-50 vote. Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Murkowski and Thom Tillis of North Carolina voted with the Democrats.
Banning Planned Parenthood from being funded through Medicaid
Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri tried unsuccessfully to find a way to extend the year-long ban on Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood that the GOP included in its “big, beautiful” bill. This funding ban expires on July 4th.
Hawley did not speak about abortion access during the debate, but focused his criticism of the organization on gender-affirming health services for transgender youth.
“Under no circumstances should Medicaid funds intended for the poor and needy be used for transgender surgeries and treatment for minor children,” he said. “It is a moral scandal. This committee has a duty to defend itself against it.”
Planned Parenthood website states that the organization offers referrals for surgery as well as hormone therapy, puberty blockers and “transition support.”
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden argued the change was “the latest attempt by Republicans to deprive women of the health care they need and rely on so they can score political points.”
Senators did not agree to waive a point of order against the amendment that would have allowed it to move forward, through one vote from 50-48. Collins and Murkowski voted with the Democrats.
Private equity and home ownership
Senators rejected an amendment from Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley that would have addressed rising housing costs after he cited comments made by President Donald Trump during his State of the Union address.
“We have an opportunity tonight to send a message that we agree with the president and that we have a challenge on home ownership because home ownership is dying,” Merkley said. “And one of the factors is private equity buying up the houses.”
Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno spoke against passing the amendment, saying lawmakers had already taken a bipartisan approach to it.
“I, of course, call on my colleagues to oppose this amendment since we have already passed it,” he said. We have already solved this problem. Congratulations to all of us. 89 to 10. We banned institutional ownership of single-family homes. I think that’s fantastic.”
Accordingly, the Senate voted in March to pass a bill that is intended to boost the country’s housing supply reporting from NPR. However, since the House of Representatives has passed its own bill, the two chambers will have to work out their differences before a housing bill takes effect.
Senators did not agree to accept Merkley’s amendment on a party line of 46-52 vote.
FEMA disaster relief funds
California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff proposed an amendment that would address stalled funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which he said “has more than $3 billion in disaster relief funding available to California.”
“But as we debate this budget resolution, I know our state of California is not alone,” he said. “North Carolina is waiting for millions in aid for Hurricane Helene in 2024. Just a few weeks after the fire in Los Angeles County, landslides and flooding occurred in Kentucky.
Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford opposed the amendment, saying that while he agrees that FEMA funds need to get to communities, the best way to accomplish that is for the House to pass the annual funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which the Senate has already approved.
The House GOP leaders are stick to this bill rather than putting it on the ground while they wait for the reconciliation process to be completed. This Senate-passed DHS bill funds FEMA and all agencies that make up the department, except ICE and Border Patrol.
“Our challenge has been that we have been in a DHS government shutdown for two months,” Lankford said. “We need to be able to release those funds. That means we need to fully dedicate DHS funding to all of DHS. We have FEMA employees who are paid but don’t have program funds to actually release.”
The Senate rejected the amendment by a vote of 49-49 vote. Senators Ashley Moody and Murkowski of Collins, Florida voted with the Democrats.
