Senate Republicans unveil immigration funding plan with $140 billion price tag as divisions simmer

Senate Republicans revealed their plan to fund immigration enforcement operations with a whopping 12-figure price tag, but not every member of the GOP is happy with the roadmap.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Tuesday revealed the GOP’s budget resolution, which will act as the guiding document for Republicans as they launch the budget process.

It’s as Republican leadership wanted — narrowly tailored to fund only Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for the next three years. And it comes with the eye-popping price tag of $140 billion over the next three and a half years.

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“The threats to our homeland from radical Islam are only getting more intense,” Graham said in a statement. “Now is not the time to defund Border Patrol, and now is certainly not the time to put ICE out of business. These men and women have been dealing with the consequences of the over 11 million illegal immigrants that came to the United States during the Biden Administration.”

The upper chamber is expected to vote on the budget blueprint this week, possibly even Tuesday afternoon, if lawmakers can shore up any possible defections and disagreements.

Republicans will get the chance to discuss the bill behind closed doors later in the day, where Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he expects any lingering issues with the framework to be addressed.

“But as I’ve said from the very beginning, the exercise here is to make sure we have something that gets 50 here and 218 in the House that is narrow and focused on ensuring that the ICE and CBP are funded well into the future,” Thune said.

The legislation instructs the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security panels that they are allowed to add to the federal deficit by up to $70 billion each over the next handful of years to fund immigration operations. 

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a member of the budget committee and deficit hawk, said that reconciliation was the only way to fund immigration operations “because of Democrats’ just obnoxious obstructionism.” 

“I mean who can you vote against this? I mean, maybe others want to do something more,” Johnson said. “I want to do something more, what’s that?”  

Republicans have opted to reignite reconciliation after last year’s “big, beautiful bill” as an option of last resort. Congressional Democrats have refused to fund ICE and chunks of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) absent stringent reforms.

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And House Republicans have refused to consider the Senate’s bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which carves out immigration enforcement funding, until reconciliation is complete.

Some Republicans view the latest effort, which cuts out Democrats entirely from the process, as a golden opportunity to tackle several issues ahead of the midterm elections this fall. But others fear that adding more to the bill will slow the process and further prolong the ongoing DHS shutdown.

While a large contingent of Republicans, including Thune, argue that the GOP will have a third bite at the apple later in the year, some believe that this is the only shot they’ll have to craft a party-line package before the election.

“I don’t believe we’ll ever see a third reconciliation,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. “I think this is it. I’m not sure that we’ll pass any legislation after this.”

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Kennedy and a small handful of other Republicans want to front-load this reconciliation package with several items to address the cost of living and argued that “rather than having an anorexic bill, we should have a pleasantly plump bill.”

Graham’s framework tasks the Senate Judiciary and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees with crafting the legislative muscle and sinew of the bill.

However, Republicans could face a key roadblock there, too.

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Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., is not a fan of the process, particularly because of the price tag associated with it. He made that clear last year when his plan was usurped by Graham for not spending nearly as much as Republicans wanted for border funding and immigration enforcement.

“In general, I’d like to see less spending, not more,” Paul said. “The conservative notion has always been we spend too much money around here. Seems a bit ironic for Republicans to be using their partisan power to spend more money.”