In a marathon session that stretched into the early hours of Friday, Senate Republicans successfully thwarted nearly 30 amendments proposed by Democrats, aimed at derailing the budget blueprint designed to fund President Donald Trump's border security agenda.
According to the Daily Caller, the Senate's first move was to unlock over $340 billion in spending to bolster the president's border security and deportation efforts, thereby enabling the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration to be implemented in full force. Senate Democrats attempted to corner their Republican counterparts by holding votes on a multitude of amendments intended to inflict political damage. However, Democrats had little to say about the actual purpose of the budget resolution: to fund the president's border security agenda.
The Senate ultimately approved the border security-focused budget resolution by a vote of 52 to 48 shortly before 5 a.m., after nearly a ten-hour slog. Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul opposed the resolution, expressing concerns that the forthcoming budget bill would fail to completely offset the spending increases unlocked with the passage of the budget resolution.
No Senate Democrat voted to advance the budget resolution that would unlock money to fund the president's illegal immigration crackdown efforts. The Senate Republicans' budget proposal provides instructions to fund $175 billion in immigration enforcement money, in addition to an increase in defense spending and policy changes to spur energy production in a forthcoming budget bill.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, criticized the Democrats' stance, stating, If you listen to Senate Democrats, its abundantly clear that they do not support these goals. Democrats are opposed to securing our border, rebuilding our military, and unleashing American energy."
The budget resolution stage of the reconciliation process allows any senator to propose an unlimited number of budget-related amendments that are voted on in a marathon process known as a vote-a-rama. The unique rules of the reconciliation process allowed Senate Democrats to delay passage of the budget resolution until they lost steam voting on amendments. Every Democrat-sponsored amendment failed to be adopted.
Senate Democrats' opposition to funding border security and defense spending comes as their approval rating plummets to an all-time-low. Just two in ten Americans approve of congressional Democrats job performance, according to Quinnipiac polling released Wednesday.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer led the debate on the border security package by focusing on taxes, seemingly viewing an attack on Senate Republicans for allegedly giving tax cuts to billionaires as a political lifeline to a party widely viewed as struggling to craft a strategy back to electoral success.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor prior to introducing an amendment to stop a budget bill from providing a tax cut to individuals earning more than $1 billion per year, stated, Nothing criticizes the broken core of Republicans agenda better than their tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.
Republicans countered that the budget bill was not a tax-focused bill, but a border security-focused bill. Senate Republicans plan to take up the presidents tax priorities in a separate budget package later in the year.
Democrats also alleged that Senate Republicans were seeking to cut popular entitlement programs despite the budget resolution not providing instructions to do so, and widespread opposition in the Republican conference to achieve significant spending reform by cutting into entitlements.
President Trump has also repeatedly stated he would not support a budget package that cuts Medicare or Medicaid barring instances of waste, fraud, and abuse.
Senate Finance Committee Mike Crapo of Idaho refuted these allegations on the Senate floor Thursday evening, stating, The Democrats know very well that this targeted budget blueprint does not cut Medicaid or Medicare. The claims weve heard continuously tonight, to me, seem just to be the politics of fear in the face of trying to deal with our nations critical issues.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Josh Hawley of Missouri occasionally voted for Democrat-backed amendments seeking to forestall hypothetical cuts to entitlement programs in a forthcoming budget bill.
Despite the late-night efforts to advance a budget resolution, the Senates version may face immediate roadblocks if the House refuses to consider the upper chambers slimmed-down budget approach.
Speaker Mike Johnson has said the Senates budget proposal is dead on arrival in his chamber. House Republicans could pass a competing budget resolution as early as next week incorporating all of the presidents tax and spending priorities into one, big beautiful bill.
President Trump, while supporting the House version, appeared to give Senate Republicans the green light to continue advancing their own budget plans Thursday prior to the vote-a-rama.
Thank you to Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Senate, for working so hard on funding the Trump Border Agenda, Trump wrote on Truth Social. Your work on funding this effort is greatly appreciated!
As Trump moves to stem the influx of illegal migrants into the United States lowering border encounter numbers to levels not seen since the 1960s key administration officials are begging Congress to provide additional funding to go full throttle on the presidents immigration crackdown.
Senate Republican leadership is adamant that their budget plan is the right vehicle to do just that.
After four years of high prices and open borders, Americans deserve a path to safety and prosperity, Barrasso said Thursday. Starting with the Republican budget, they will finally get it.
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