Overview
- The Senate approved the GOP budget resolution 50-48 early Thursday after an overnight vote-a-rama, with Republicans Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski joining Democrats in opposition.
- The plan tees up a reconciliation bill to provide about $70 billion over roughly three years for ICE and Border Patrol using a simple-majority process that bypasses a filibuster.
- The House must now pass the same budget, and committees face a May 15 deadline to draft the bill under a White House push to finish by June 1.
- Democrats forced dozens of votes on health costs and other affordability issues that mostly failed, while a Lindsey Graham amendment creating a deficit-neutral reserve for deporting violent offenders passed 98-0.
- Backers say this could unlock the Senate’s separate DHS funding bill in the House and ease a shutdown now straining operations and pay as key accounts near depletion in the coming weeks.