Senate Republicans are racing to move an immigration enforcement spending bill, aiming to pass a budget resolution this month to unlock the party-line reconciliation spending powers to pass it.
Ultimately, Republicans want to give President Donald Trump three years of funding for immigration enforcement and are working on a targeted proposal for Trump to sign in May.
The Senate’s Department of Homeland Security bill exempted Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection’s border security operations funding, which were on track to receive about $10 billion and more than $6 billion, respectively, under current spending levels.
Three years of funding for those agencies would come out to about $50 billion in total. The final number could be larger but is expected to be well under $100 billion.
If Republicans can get their bill moving, it might unstick the other partial DHS funding bill languishing in the House — and end the 58-day shutdown.