Senate Republicans introduced a budget resolution Tuesday aimed at funding immigration enforcement agencies — the first formal step in a multi-stage budget process to end a record-breaking partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Democrats have for months said they will not agree to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) without major reforms after the deaths of two U.S. citizens involving federal agents earlier this year. Republicans plan to use the budget tool reconciliation to approve funding for the remaining DHS agencies along party lines, avoiding the need for Democratic votes.
Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., unveiled the resolution. It would give the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees authority to draft legislation that could increase the deficit by up to $70 billion each; a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the final price tag is expected to be $70 billion total. That amount is projected to fund the agencies for about 3.5 years. President Trump has set a June 1 deadline for passage.
Reconciliation lets Congress bypass the Senate filibuster and pass certain budget-related legislation with a simple majority. Normally, most Senate bills require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster; Republicans hold 53 seats. The procedure was created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to make it easier for Congress to adjust laws that affect revenue or spending. It was first used for the 1981 fiscal year and has become a frequent tool in highly partisan eras. Examples include the 2017 Republican tax cuts and Democratic uses for COVID-19 relief and the Inflation Reduction Act.
How reconciliation works
Reconciliation is a two-stage process:
– A budget resolution is adopted that provides instructions to specific congressional committees to produce legislation achieving particular budget outcomes (for example, increasing or reducing the deficit by a set amount).
– The committees draft bills complying with those instructions. The Budget Committee then bundles those committee bills into one comprehensive package for consideration by the House and Senate. If the chambers disagree, they must reconcile differences.
Vote-a-ramas
A distinctive feature of reconciliation in the Senate is the vote-a-rama: extended sessions where senators offer amendments in rapid succession before a final vote. Vote-a-ramas give the minority party a rare chance to force votes on amendments or raise budget points of order. There are typically two vote-a-ramas in reconciliation: one on the budget resolution itself (more procedural) and a more consequential one on the final legislative package.
Limits on reconciliation
Reconciliation can only be used for provisions that directly affect spending, revenues, or the debt limit — not for discretionary spending measures. The Byrd Rule, named after former Sen. Robert Byrd, allows the Senate to strip any provision deemed not to have a direct budgetary effect. Senators can raise a point of order against suspect provisions; the Senate parliamentarian advises whether those provisions violate the Byrd Rule. Other prohibitions include changes to Social Security and measures that push costs outside the budget window, typically 10 years.
This story is adapted from an earlier story.