Senate Republicans approve budget measure, teeing up bill to fund ICE, CBP

CongressSenate Republicans approve budget measure, teeing up bill to fund ICE and Border PatrolThe vote begins the process of drafting a filibuster-proof bill to fund the two agencies and could prompt Republicans to pass a separate bill to fund the rest of DHS.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Senate Republicans approved a budget measure early Thursday to pave the way for ICE and Board Patrol funding without Democratic support.Eric Lee / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 23, 2026, 6:34 AM EDTBy Sahil Kapur and Brennan LeachWASHINGTON — Senate Republicans voted early Thursday morning to approve a budget measure that would pave the way for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol funding without any Democratic support.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The vote was 50-48 after a marathon session last night.The budget has no force of law on its own, but it instructs committees to begin drafting a bill to authorize $70 billion in funds for ICE and Border Patrol while bypassing a filibuster.It could also pave the way for House Republicans to pass the bipartisan bill approved by the Senate to fund the rest of the Department of Homeland Security, ending the record months-long shutdown. House GOP leaders said they wanted to see action on the budget before taking up the Senate-passed DHS bill.Months of bipartisan negotiations to end the DHS shutdown have faltered as Republicans rebuffed demands from Democrats to put limits on immigration enforcement operations following the killings of two American citizens in Minneapolis by immigration enforcement agents.As a result, Republicans now plan to use whats known as a “budget reconciliation” process to fund those immigration enforcement agencies without any of the policy changes demanded by Democrats, such as mandating body cameras and limiting raids in sensitive locations like schools and hospitals.“We have a m...