Senate Advances $70 Billion Immigration Bill as DOJ Declares Trump's $1.8 Billion Fund Dead
Updated
Updated · CNN · Jun 3
Senate Advances $70 Billion Immigration Bill as DOJ Declares Trump's $1.8 Billion Fund Dead
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Jun 3
Summary
A 53-46 party-line Senate vote opened debate on roughly $70 billion for ICE and Border Patrol, with GOP leaders aiming to send the package to Trump this week.
Todd Blanche's declaration that DOJ is "not moving forward" with Trump's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund eased a weeks-long Republican blockade over fears it could compensate Jan. 6 defendants.
That truce remains fragile: Thom Tillis plans an amendment to kill the fund in statute, John Curtis and Bill Cassidy want firmer language, and leaders expect an overnight vote-a-rama starting early Thursday.
Trump muddied the message in a podcast taped Tuesday, saying a court had ruled against the fund rather than saying he dropped it, while Senate Republicans also stripped nearly $1 billion in security money, including his East Wing ballroom project.
The fight has become a test of whether Republicans can lock in Trump's immigration agenda before the midterms without reopening divisions over compensating people he says were targeted by the government.