Senate advances $70 billion ICE bill after GOP drops Trump add-ons
What's next: Democrats plan amendment votes to permanently bar Trump's $1.776 billion settlement fund as the bill moves through reconciliation.
Senate Republicans opened debate Wednesday on a roughly $70 billion immigration enforcement bill after cutting two politically fraught provisions: up to $1 billion for Secret Service and security tied to Donald Trump's planned White House ballroom, and a separate settlement fund the administration had said it would abandon. The Senate voted 53-46 to proceed on the package, which would steer tens of billions of dollars to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol through fiscal 2029. The bill now faces a vote-a-rama, with Democrats and some Republicans preparing amendments to write into law a ban on reviving the $1.776 billion fund that had sparked backlash inside the GOP.