Senate Passes Party-Line Reconciliation Bill, Sidesteps Attempts to Kill ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund

The Senate voted mostly along party lines to pass Republicans’ multibillion-dollar immigration enforcement package early Friday morning, after blocking multiple efforts to bar or limit President Donald Trump from establishing an “anti-weaponization” fund.

The measure was approved 52-47, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) siding with Democrats in opposition after a nearly 18-hour series of votes. The House is expected to take up the bill next week and send it to Trump’s desk, blowing past his June 1 deadline.

The bill would provide $70 billion to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, agencies that were left out of a bipartisan deal to reopen most of the Department of Homeland Security in April following the longest-ever shutdown of a government agency.

Republicans beat back a number of amendments that would have limited or done away with the “anti-weaponization” fund during the “vote-a-rama.” The $1.8 billion fund was announced last month as part of a settlement between President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax forms. But this week acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department would not move ahead with the fund amid bipartisan blowback.

The “voting marathon followed a two-week delay after Senate Republicans abruptly dropped plans to vote on the immigration enforcement spending, expressing grave concerns about the “anti-weaponization” fund. Some senators had hoped to put guardrails or restrictions on it as part of the broader spending bill.

However, a push by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to send the immigration enforcement bill back to the Senate Judiciary committee with instructions to nix the fund was open for more than three hours on the Senate floor. It had support from three Republicans up for re-election in 2026 –– Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Jon Husted (R-Ohio).

Republican senators also put forward their own proposals to limit or do away with the fund. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) introduced a measure to redirect “anti-weaponization” funds toward fraud enforcement that was backed by 12 Republicans but was overwhelmingly voted down. Tillis told reporters Thursday that he hoped the final bill would include language about the fund.

“It won’t be binary, but it has to restrict it,” Tillis said.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) also proposed an amendment alongside Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) to repurpose the $1.8 billion and an additional $100 million into a settlement fund for law enforcement officers that garnered support from six Republicans.

Cassidy spent much of the day working with Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough to write an amendment on the fund that could pass with a simple majority but was unsuccessful.

“There’s a lot in that bill, so I’m just trying to figure it out,” Cassidy said. “I’m hopeful that we can still protect the border, but address [the fund].”

Murkowski also repeatedly reiterated that she would not support a bill without any provisions to limit the fund.

Eight GOP senators, including Cassidy, Collins, Husted, Murkowski, Tillis, Sullivan and Sens. Ashley Moody (Florida) and Jerry Moran (Kansas) also backed an amendment introduced by Democratic Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) to bar payouts from the fund to Jan 6. rioters.

The final bill also did not contain spending for Trump’s controversial White House ballroom, after initially proposing $1 billion for the project and related security. Seven Republicans voted with Democrats during the voting marathon to prohibit public and private funding for the ballroom without congressional authorization.

Senate Republicans also forced a vote on the “Save America Act” during the voting marathon, which ultimately lost four Republican votes and failed. The legislation, a top Trump priority, would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship at voting booths, restrict mail-in voting and prohibit gender-transition care for minors. A second provision on the act proposed by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) also failed, but it received 51 Republican votes.

Democrats earlier in the evening gathered bipartisan support on a measure that would ban Director of Housing Bill Pulte from serving as interim director of national intelligence. Collins, Cassidy and Murkowski backed the measure, introduced by Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Trump appointed Pulte on Monday, but clarified he would only serve until the position is permanently filled on Thursday.