06.04.26 - What’s in the final reconciliation bill & where it stands

The Senate could vote today to funnel $70 billion in taxpayer money to President Trump’s mass deportation machine via a party-line reconciliation bill (text here and here). Should the package pass, it will head to the House for a final vote as soon as tomorrow. 

Below, we’ll summarize what’s in the bill and where we are in the process. For a more detailed analysis, I highly recommend National Immigration Law Center’s section-by-section deep dive here. 

What’s in the bill? 

$38.5 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The bill provides funding for ICE to hire additional officers, deport immigrants, and surge immigration agents to jurisdictions that the administration determines are not “cooperating” with ICE—giving the White House a powerful tool to use against cities and states the President chooses to target. Here is further analysis of this provision from National Immigration Law Center, Immigrant Defense Project, National Immigrant Justice Center, and American Civil Liberties Union. 

$26 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The bill provides funding for CBP to hire additional agents, update surveillance systems, purchase new equipment and technology, and more. 

$5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This funding enables the DHS Secretary to supplement activities described in the bill.

What’s not in the bill? 

The bill no longer provides dedicated funding for the Department of Justice or the President’s White House ballroom. You can read more about the outcry related to the ballroom here and the proposed slush fund for President Trump’s political allies here. 

The bill does nothing to stop the violence of the administration’s mass deportation regime, nor does it tackle the public’s primary concern: the high cost-of-living. High prices are forcing two-thirds of the country to cut back on spending, and yet Republicans’ reconciliation package does nothing to address the rising costs that show no sign of slowing down. 

What’s next? 

At the time of writing (2PM Eastern on June 4), we’re in the middle of “vote-a-rama,” an hours-long series of amendment votes in the Senate. There is no limit to the number of amendments that can be offered.

Vote-a-rama offers the minority party a chance to force votes on their priorities and put the majority on-the-record on controversial matters. However, the amendments must adhere to specific parameters: 

• The amendments must be germane. 

• The amendments cannot violate the Byrd Rule (see details on the Byrd Rule here). 

• The amendments must lower the deficit or leave it untouched. Amendments cannot raise the deficit, except amendments that strike whole provisions from the bill. These are permitted even when the eliminated provision would reduce the deficit. 

Once no more amendments are offered, the Senate votes on passage. Passage requires a simple majority vote (51 of 100). After that, the bill can head to the House. 

The House must pass a rule governing the bill’s consideration (i.e., determining time for debate, amendments permitted, etc.) before voting on the bill itself. The House will reportedly aim to vote on that rule tonight and vote on final passage tomorrow. 

If you’d like a live update for your group or coalition, reach out to catherine@webuildprogress.org. Thanks!