Senate GOP Funds DHS, Keeps Trump Lawfare Hopes Alive

Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer had proposed inserting language barring the payouts into Republican-backed legislation to fund Trump’s mass deportation campaign through the duration of his term.

After a vote that stretched for three hours as groups of senators were spotted huddling on the chamber’s floor, the amendment failed by a 49-50 vote. Three Republican senators, all of whom are seen as vulnerable in November’s midterm elections, broke with their party to join all Democrats in support.

Senate Republicans early Friday passed a bill that would provide the Department of Homeland Security with nearly $70 billion in new funds for immigration enforcement.

The vote came after a more than 18-hour “vote-a-rama”, a process by which senators offer amendments to bills passed using the reconciliation procedure. The Senate’s Democratic minority leader, Chuck Schumer, had said earlier this week that he would use vote-a-rama to force Republicans into publicly defending the policies of Donald Trump, a move that ultimately forced Senate Republicans to drop their attempt to spend $1bn on security improvements for Trump’s White House ballroom.

Among the amendments voted on in this marathon session was an attempt introduced by Schumer to kill the “anti-weaponization fund” and stop Trump from creating a $1.8bn fund to pay his allies. The measure was narrowly defeated in a 49-50 vote after three Republican senators broke with their party to join all Democrats in support.