Washington — The House on Wednesday adopted a Senate-approved budget plan, the first step in a strategy that would allow Republicans to fund federal immigration agencies through the rest of President Trump’s term without the help of Democrats.
Senate Republicans unveiled and adopted the budget blueprint last week. Republicans are trying to meet Mr. Trump’s June deadline to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, and end the funding lapse that has shut down the Department of Homeland Security since February.
The resolution cleared the House in a 215 to 211 vote. It directs the committees that oversee ICE and Border Patrol to draft legislation to deliver about $70 billion to the agencies.
Adoption of the budget plan simply allows lawmakers to begin their work crafting legislation to fund the agencies, which both chambers will later need to approve.
Republicans are planning to fund other parts of DHS on a separate track.
Republicans have stressed a renewed urgency to fully fund the department after the White House Correspondents‘ Dinner shooting on Saturday. Democrats have argued that most of DHS could be funded immediately if House GOP leaders held a vote on legislation that the Senate passed with bipartisan support in March.
In a memo to lawmakers on Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget warned that DHS „will soon run out of critical operating funds, placing essential personnel and operations at risk.“ Mr. Trump had directed the department to find available funding to pay all personnel during the shutdown, but the memo said the administration will be unable to pay personnel beginning in May.
Wednesday’s vote did not come without GOP infighting. What was expected to be a quick vote turned into an hourslong saga as some House Republicans launched a rebellion over an issue with an unrelated farm bill.
Democrats have refused to fund ICE and Border Patrol without reforms. A divide between House and Senate Republicans on whether to split off funding for DHS components that are unrelated to immigration enforcement has further prolonged the impasse.
An off-ramp appeared at the end of March, when the Senate approved a measure to fund most of the department, except for ICE and Border Patrol. Senate Republicans planned to then fund immigration enforcement through budget reconciliation, a process that allows them to pass spending bills without Democratic support.
House Democrats said they were willing to support the Senate-passed legislation to fund most of DHS, but GOP leadership refused to put it on the House floor for a vote since it faced opposition from conservatives, who wanted it wrapped into a single bill with voter ID requirements attached. Instead, House Republicans passed a measure to fund every agency under the department for 60 days, punting the issue back to the Senate, where a handful of Democratic votes are needed to overcome the filibuster.
Republicans circled back on the two-pronged plan to fund immigration agencies through reconciliation and the rest of DHS through the traditional appropriations process.
Reconciliation allows the Senate to advance legislation with direct budgetary consequences with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes typically needed, giving Republicans a path around Democratic opposition.
„We have been forced by the Democrats to use the reconciliation process to ensure that these two important agencies are funded,“ Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said last week.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said the lower chamber plans to move the reconciliation measure first before voting on the bill the Senate passed in March. That bill funds the rest of DHS, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Secret Service, the Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But some House Republicans have issues with the broader DHS bill, saying it includes language that zeroes out funding for immigration enforcement.
„It has some problematic language because it was haphazardly drafted,“ Johnson said Monday, adding that they have a „modified version“ that will be „much better for both chambers.“
Thune responded to Johnson’s criticism of the broader measure, saying the Senate „did everything we can to ensure that everything is appropriately funded.“
Johnson pushed back on suggestions House Republicans are at odds with their Senate counterparts and the White House.
„Everybody understands what we’re doing,“ Johnson said Wednesday. „We’re all one team. We’re working together. I met with Leader Thune two hours ago. He knows exactly what we’re doing.“
