Senate Republicans passed their $70 billion funding bill for Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies shortly before the sun rose on Friday, with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski the lone Republican in opposition.
The 52-47 vote sent the bill to the House for consideration and ended a long, convoluted saga in the Senate that included GOP rebellions over the East Wing renovation and Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund. Now a whole new drama awaits the Senate on expiring surveillance powers.
Immediately after the immigration vote, seven Republicans voted against advancing the House’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act along with near-unanimous opposition from Senate Democrats over the elevation of Bill Pulte to director of national intelligence, blocking that bill ahead of a June 12 deadline. There’s time to miss an expiration when the Senate comes back Monday, but it’ll be tight.