The Senate is grappling with the passage of a $70 billion legislative package intended to fund immigration enforcement agencies, as a contentious $1.776 billion settlement fund for political allies of Donald Trump continues to spark fierce debate and delay.
Democrats and a faction of Republicans have been actively seeking to permanently block the creation of this fund, which is designed to compensate individuals who claim political persecution.
A significant hurdle was cleared just before 4 a.m. Friday morning when Republicans defeated an amendment proposed by their own member, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy.
Cassidy’s amendment aimed to redirect payments from the controversial settlement fund to law enforcement members injured during the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
This vote followed several other unsuccessful attempts by both Democrats and Republicans to either ban or limit the judgment fund.
The amendment served as a critical test of party unity, complicating what was anticipated to be a straightforward vote for Republicans keen on maintaining focus on immigration enforcement in an election year.
Instead, lawmakers spent nearly 24 hours embroiled in internal disagreements over whether to block the fund, despite Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s earlier assertion this week that it would not proceed.
"This would have been done several hours ago if we weren’t having to deal with some of the issues around the fund," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, remarked shortly before midnight.
Thune has been pressing GOP senators for weeks to keep the bill focused solely on funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, which Democrats have obstructed since early this year, and to avoid introducing new provisions that could jeopardize its passage.
The settlement fund, stemming from a resolution of Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, has caused considerable anger among many Republican senators.
While Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated this week that the fund would not move forward, Trump, who has recently been at odds with Senate Republicans, cast fresh doubt on the settlement’s future on Wednesday afternoon.
Just after the Senate voted to begin debate on the immigration bill, he told reporters that the settlement is "very important" and added, "I don’t know" whether it is dead or merely on hold. "I’d have to ask the lawyers," he said.
The Senate also rejected an amendment from Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina on Thursday.
This amendment sought to ban the settlement fund and reallocate the money to a separate anti-fraud fund within the Department of Justice.
While most Democrats voted against it, ensuring its defeat, more than 10 Republicans supported the measure.
Tillis argued that the settlement fund, some of which could potentially benefit Trump supporters involved in the January 6 Capitol attack, poses a significant political liability for the party.
"If Blanche says this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that?" Tillis questioned.
"Otherwise, you’re exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense for something that the DOJ says they’re not moving forward with."
The passage of the roughly $70 billion bill for ICE and Border Patrol would finally end a months-long blockade by Democrats, who demanded policy changes following the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January.
The legislation aims to fund these agencies for three years, through the end of Trump’s term.
Senate Republicans are employing a complex procedural maneuver to bypass the filibuster and pass the budget legislation without Democratic votes.
However, bringing the bill to the Senate floor has taken weeks, as Republicans navigated various obstacles created by Trump and the White House.
These included a $1 billion proposal for White House security and Trump's ballroom, which was eventually scrapped, as well as the intense bipartisan backlash against the settlement fund.
Democrats insist that any funding bill for the Homeland Security Department must include restraints on federal immigration authorities, such as improved identification protocols for federal officers and increased use of judicial warrants.
After federal agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Trump agreed to a Democratic request to separate the Homeland Security bill from a larger spending measure that ultimately became law.
However, bipartisan negotiations stalled, and department funding lapsed in mid-February without an agreement on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
While Congress eventually funded the rest of the Homeland Security Department in late April with Democratic support, ICE and Border Patrol have remained without regular funding.
