House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference following the House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington on Wednesday, May 13, 2026.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The US House is ready to vote on a package of 70 billion dollars to fund immigration enforcement agencies and, after months of partisan fighting, sent the measure to President Donald Trump’s desk.
The package would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, two Department of Homeland Security agencies left without previous spending amid Democratic opposition, and end the endless debate over immigration enforcement policy that began in January and led to a government shutdown.
A final House vote to pass the immigration funding package could come as soon as Tuesday.
The Senate passed the package early Friday morning by a vote of 52-47. It will fund immigration enforcement agencies at the end of the Trump administration. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was the only Republican to vote against it.
“We were forced to use the reconciliation process because the Democrats opposed – during the appropriations process – to give any money to the Border Patrol and ICE, to effectively close our border security at a time of growing threats to the nation,” said Sen. Graham was talking about the budget reconciliation process, which allows legislation to pass in the Senate on a party line vote.
“In less than two years, President Trump has taken the border from the most broken to the most secure in history. The bill we passed today caps those gains for the rest of his term,” Graham continued.
Democrats have opposed funding for ICE and CBP since two civilians were killed by federal police in Minneapolis during a January operation. A partial government shutdown that lasted more than two months followed, and Republicans were forced to resort to a budget reconciliation process.
Budget reconciliation can only be used for spending-related measures but requires only 50 votes to pass the Senate, instead of the 60 votes normally needed to defeat a filibuster. The measure only needs a simple majority in the House, where the Rules Committee will begin consideration Monday afternoon.
With a slim majority in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will need unanimous support to advance the measure, which is expected to receive little, if any, Democratic support.
Trump initially had the package on his desk on June 1, but its fate was uncertain in late May after the president announced without consulting Congress a $1.8 billion “anti-weapon” fund to compensate Americans wrongfully targeted by the government, including those who may have been sued on January 6.
The proposal was met with bipartisan backlash and nearly derailed the reconciliation process. The Senate canceled a vote scheduled for late May and left town as anger grew among the GOP.
However, the Democrats’ attempt to add an amendment to the package – as part of a marathon process known as a reconciliation vote-a-rama – on Thursday will prevent Trump from making the fund a success. Three Republican senators joined their Democratic colleagues in their effort to block the fund.
“Now the whole country is seeing the truth: Republicans have fought like hell to protect Donald Trump and his slush fund but haven’t lifted a finger to help working Americans lower their costs,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement Friday.
