Washington — The House on Tuesday passed Republicans’ $70 billion bill funding immigration enforcement agencies through the rest of President Trump’s term, bringing an end to the monthslong stalemate over funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
The legislation cleared the House in a 214 to 212 vote. The Senate approved it early Friday following weeks of roadblocks. It now heads to Mr. Trump’s desk.
House Republicans had been waiting for weeks for their Senate counterparts to send over the legislation. Both chambers had hoped to have the bill on Mr. Trump’s desk by Memorial Day in order to meet his June 1 deadline, but those plans were impeded by the president’s request for $1 billion related to construction of a massive ballroom at the White House and the announcement of a nearly $1.8 billion Justice Department fund to pay people who claim they were politically persecuted.
Rare GOP pushback against the president’s priorities forced Senate Republicans to delay votes until after their Memorial Day recess.
Language for ballroom security funding was ultimately stripped from the legislation and the Justice Department said it would no longer pursue the “anti-weaponization fund.” Though the administration’s assertion about no longer pursuing the fund failed to convince some who were skeptical, a number of amendments to formally bar such payouts were defeated during a marathon session of votes in the Senate that stretched from Thursday morning into the early hours of Friday.
House GOP leaders had initially expected to hold a vote late last week on passage, but delayed taking up the measure until this week. And Tuesday’s votes on the measure were not without drama. A 5-minute procedural vote earlier in the day had to be held open for about 30 minutes as GOP leaders worked to get members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus to vote in favor of advancing the measure.
On final passage, GOP Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan initially voted in opposition, tying the vote. GOP leaders quickly closed the vote as soon as he flipped.
One member who caucuses with Republicans, California independent Rep. Kevin Kiley, voted against the bill. Kiley had “very strong concerns” about the “strictly party-line process” and wanted to see “significant bipartisan reforms to interior immigration enforcement.” Still, Kiley helped advance the measure during the party-line procedural vote earlier in the day.
Republicans used the budget reconciliation process to fund immigration-related agencies. The process allows them to pass some fiscal legislation by a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing the need for any Democratic votes to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold. Democrats have refused to fund ICE and Border Patrol without reforms.