WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Senate passed legislation to fund President Donald Trump鈥檚 immigration enforcement agencies early Friday, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated that threatened to derail the bill.
Senators voted 52-47 to pass to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, through the end of Trump鈥檚 term, after Democrats . The bill will now head to the House, which is expected to take it up next week.
The final vote came just before 5 a.m., after Republicans narrowly defeated multiple attempts by members of both parties to add language to the bill that would permanently ban Trump鈥檚 settlement fund for .
Republicans cleared the last major hurdle overnight when they defeated an amendment proposed by one of their own members, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, that would have redirected payments from the settlement to members of law enforcement who were injured when seeking to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss attacked the Capitol on .
The amendments were a test of party unity that complicated what should have been an easy vote for Republicans who wanted to keep the focus on immigration enforcement in an election year. Instead, they spent almost a full day haggling among themselves over whether to block the settlement fund, even after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had said earlier this week that .
鈥淭his would have been done several hours ago if we weren鈥檛 having to deal with some of the issues around the fund,鈥� Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said shortly before midnight.
Thune himself has criticized the fund, which was part of a settlement that resolves Trump鈥檚 over the leak of his tax returns and has angered many of his GOP colleagues. But he has been pushing GOP senators for weeks to keep the bill focused on the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol and to avoid adding new provisions that could complicate its passage in the House.
Still, a group of Republican senators pushed all day and into the night to block the fund鈥檚 payouts through legislation. That effort came after Trump, who has been at odds with the Senate in recent weeks, raised new doubts about the fund鈥檚 future on Wednesday when he told reporters that it is 鈥渧ery important鈥� and said 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know鈥� whether it is dead or on hold.
The final 52-47 vote on the bill was nearly party line, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republican to oppose it. Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado missed the vote.
Senators push back multiple attempts to ban settlement fund
The first vote on Thursday morning, a Democratic effort to ban the settlement fund, was held open for several hours while Cassidy and two other Republican senators decided whether to support it. The Democratic motion was narrowly defeated when Cassidy eventually voted against it and the two other senators 鈥� Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, both of whom are up for reelection this year 鈥� voted for it.
The Senate then rejected a second amendment from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina that would also have banned the settlement fund but would have moved the money to a separate anti-fraud fund at the Department of Justice. Most Democrats voted against the amendment, guaranteeing its defeat, but more than 10 Republicans supported it.
Tillis said the fund is a political liability for the party.
鈥淚f Blanche says this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that?鈥� Tillis said. 鈥淥therwise, you鈥檙e exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense for something that the DOJ says they鈥檙e not moving forward with.鈥�
Cassidy’s amendment to compensate the injured police officers was a pointed rebuke, as payouts from Trump’s fund could have potentially gone to Trump supporters who and . Cassidy last month after Trump endorsed a primary opponent.
He said that, despite Blanche’s comments, the fund is still part of an active settlement and 鈥渁bsolutely can be used.鈥�
The Senate rejected several other Democratic efforts to try to block or limit the fund, including amendments to ban payments to Jan. 6 defendants who injured law enforcement officers.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans are now 鈥渓eaving taxpayers to rely on nothing more than a promise from Donald Trump鈥檚 personal fixer. That is not accountability. That is a permission slip.鈥�
ICE and Border Patrol money has been delayed for months
Enactment of the bill to fund ICE and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January.
Senate Republicans used a to get around the filibuster and pass the budget legislation with no Democratic votes. But it took weeks to get the bill to the Senate floor as Republicans navigated various obstacles to passage created by Trump and the White House 鈥� including for White House security and that they eventually scrapped and the fierce bipartisan backlash to the settlement fund.
Democrats say any funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security should place restraints on , including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants, among other asks.
After federal agents shot and in Minneapolis, Trump that the Homeland Security bill be separated from a larger spending measure that became law. But bipartisan negotiations went nowhere, and the department funding lapsed in mid-February with no agreement on changes to the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration enforcement tactics.
Congress eventually funded the rest of DHS at the end of April with Democratic support, but ICE and Border Patrol have remained without regular funding.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
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