1 of 3 | Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks during an event at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 7. He said Tuesday he expects the House to pass a funding bill for ICE and other federal agencies. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
The U.S. House of Representatives could vote as soon as Tuesday on a $70 billion bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies through the end of President Donald Trump’s second term in office, lawmakers said.
The Senate passed the funding bill Friday with a 52-47 vote, using the reconciliation process, which requires 50 votes instead of the typical 60 votes to bypass a filibuster. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was the only Republican to vote against the legislation.
In addition to providing $38.6 billion for ICE, the legislation would fund Customs and Border Patrol with $22.6 billion and provide $5 billion to the Department of Homeland Security and $108.5 million for child exploitation investigations.
If the House approves the legislation, it would send the bill to Trump’s desk for a signature and end a months-long battle over funding for the federal immigration agencies. Democrats have been blocking funding to ICE and CBP after the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens amid an increase in immigration enforcement in Minneapolis earlier this year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday he expected the funding bill to pass the House with a small margin of error, CBS News reported. The bill needs a simple majority in the House to pass.
“We have to fund border enforcement and immigration enforcement, and everybody here knows that, so they’re going to have to put their personal preferences aside to get the job done,” he said.
House Democrats added more than 150 amendments to the bill as of Monday, CNBC reported.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said his party would “be a hard no on the reckless Republican budget reconciliation bill this week.”
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump discusses renovations to the Lincoln Reflecting Pool and makes an announcement on coal in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
