The Senate on Thursday began a marathon "vote-a-rama" as Republicans moved a budget reconciliation measure and began voting on a $70 billion bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of President Donald Trump's term.
It is the sixth "vote-a-rama" of the 119th Congress, an unusually high number prompted by Republicans' interest in moving multiple party-line bills under budget reconciliation rules. "I suspect there will be a lot of amendments today on a lot of topics," Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the floor.
The first Democratic amendment, offered by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, sought to bar the Justice Department from creating a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund and was held open by GOP leaders for three hours before failing 49-50. Three Republicans — Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio; and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska — voted with Democrats in support of the measure, and NBC News reported all three face tough 2026 re-election bids.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told House appropriators Tuesday that the administration would scrap plans for the fund, saying "we are not moving forward with the fund." President Trump, however, praised the idea, saying, "The weaponization fund, as far as I'm concerned, was a beautiful thing. I love it. I think it's so important." Blanche's refusal to put anything in writing and the president's praise have left some senators skeptical.
Some Republicans sought to attach amendments that would restrict or prohibit any such fund without scuttling the underlying legislation. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has shopped around an amendment, said the only way to explain the roughly $1.776 billion fund is to say it was eliminated and urged colleagues to try a "stump speech test." Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she is "in the camp that wants to see it dead, dead, dead," and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he has "a favorable opinion" of the Tillis amendment. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who has filed related amendments and is retiring at the end of this Congress, also recently signed an amicus brief with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., arguing the fund is unconstitutional; NBC News reported Cassidy just lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger.
Democrats vowed they would not relent. "Trump's slush fund is anything but beautiful — it's heinous, and it won't die until we permanently ban it by law," Schumer said, and he vowed Democrats would force votes to undo a provision in Trump's settlement with the IRS that prevents the agency from auditing him or his family. Democrats have also said they will not fund ICE or Border Patrol unless Republicans agree to new limits on the agencies after officers killed two Americans in Minnesota, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Thune acknowledged the political challenge for Republican leaders and said his goal is to keep at least 50 of the 53 Republican senators on board for a bill that can pass and get the president's signature. "It's a simple bill," Thune said, saying it would "do nothing more than fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the next three years." The House is expected to vote on the bill after it passes the Senate, though it was unclear when that would occur.