This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
The U.S. Senate passed an approximately $70 billion funding bill for federal immigration enforcement, without any reforms, early Friday morning, 52-47.
Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper voted against the measure, while Sen. Michael Bennet missed the final passage vote and the preceding 18-hour marathon of back-to-back amendment votes known as a “vote-a-rama.” Instead, Bennet was back in Denver, where he hit the gubernatorial debate stage Thursday night for what he hopes will be his next job.
A Bennet spokesperson noted that Bennet had returned to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and filed amendments to the reconciliation bill. “When it became clear that votes would not start until later [Thursday] morning, he had to return to Colorado,” the spokesperson said.
Republicans used a process known as reconciliation to pass the measure via simple majority and get around the filibuster in the Senate, but not without a series of votes putting senators on the record on a host of issues from ensuring no anti-weaponization fund is created to blocking construction of President Trump's ballroom unless Congress authorizes it.
“My very first amendment offers Republicans a choice,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as he kicked things off. “Do you support Donald Trump's $2 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund? Or do you want to protect the American people and their paychecks by outlawing this criminal, crony, cashback program permanently?”
The amendment, which would have sent the entire bill back to committee to come up with language to ensure no anti-weaponization fund is created, failed to be adopted 49-50.
Hickenlooper offered an amendment to prevent any taxpayer dollars from being paid out to former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters or anyone “convicted of election-related crimes.” Vice President JD Vance had used Peters as an example of someone who would be eligible for the anti-weaponization fund.
“This vote should be 100 to zip,” Hickenlooper said on the floor, “because those who attack our democracy are not victims, they are criminals. Election criminals like Tina Peters do not deserve pardons, and they absolutely, sure as damnation, don’t deserve a dime of your taxpayer dollars.”
The measure, which needed 60 votes, failed to be adopted, 51-47, although five Republicans voted for it.
Bennet also filed a number of amendments, including preventing any agreement that shields President Trump and his family from tax audits, ICE reforms such as visible ID and no masks, as well as reimposing sanctions on Russian oil. Since he was not present, none were brought to the floor.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had said publicly on Tuesday that the anti-weaponization fund is dead. But the next day, Trump indicated he’s still in favor of the fund, telling reporters, “I love it. I think it’s so important.”
While Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated that Blanche’s words were enough, not all Republican senators agreed, and a group wrangled behind the scenes over legislation that would prohibit an anti-weaponization fund. In the end the bill failed to include any language that would prevent such a fund from being created or put any guardrails on it.
On different votes on amendments related to stopping any anti-weaponization fund, a handful of Republicans, such as outgoing Sens. Thom Tillis and Bill Cassidy, incumbents facing tough reelections (like Sens. Susan Collins, John Husted and Dan Sullivan), as well as Sen. Lisa Murkowski, voted for them, but most Senate Republicans were unified in beating back amendments. They remained focused on the underlying bill, funding for federal immigration reform. Only Murkowski voted against final passage of the bill, citing concerns that this circumvents the appropriations process.
The package contains funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through the rest of the Trump administration. Funding for the two agencies stalled after immigration enforcement officers killed two U.S. citizen protesters. Democrats had sought reforms, such as clearly displayed identification, the use of judicial warrants and no masks. But when talks broke down, Republicans decided to use reconciliation to fund the agencies.
Republicans did take out a proposed $1 billion in funding for the White House ballroom after pushback from GOP senators.
The House was expected to take up the measure on Friday morning, but GOP leaders again canceled votes late Thursday afternoon. It should be taken up by that chamber next week.
