Senate passes budget plan for ICE and Border Patrol in bid to reopen Homeland Security

The Senate took the first steps in a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday, voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund ICE and Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House.The entire department has been shut down since mid-February as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents.Republicans are now trying to fund the two agencies through the complicated, time-consuming process called budget reconciliation, a maneuver that they also used to pass President Donald Trump’s package of tax and spending cuts last year with no Democratic votes.“We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America’s borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-SD.The budget process only requires a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing filibuster rules that require Republicans to find 60 votes on most bills when they only hold 53 seats.But it also comes with increased scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian and a long, open-ended series of amendment votes at the beginning and the end of the process.The Senate held the first series of votes through the night, starting Wednesday evening and into early Thursday morning, with Democrats proposing amendments to lower health care expenses and other costs in an effort to contrast with Republicans’ focus on Trump’s campaign of immigration enforcement.“Instead of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into ICE and Border Patrol, Republicans should be working with Democrats to lower out-of-pocket costs,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY.Once the House approves the framework and the Senate Parliamentarian approves it, the two chambers can then move to pass the measure.The Senate has already voted on a bipartisan basis to reopen the rest of the department, but Re...