Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks with reporters outside his office at the beginning of the legislative week at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., June 1, 2026.
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The U.S. Senate handed President Donald Trump a victory early Friday, passing a bill that would provide an additional $70 billion to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement and sending it to the House for final consideration.
The Senate approved the bill 52-47, with no Democratic support. One Republican voted against the bill.
Republicans accused Democrats of “defunding” Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Protection, even though those agencies collectively have $100 billion in unspent funds as part of a massive Department of Homeland Security spending plan that Republicans enacted last year.
The House is not scheduled to consider the bill until next week, Republican leaders said.
Additional money for deportation enforcement
Much of Thursday’s lengthy debate over the bill was overshadowed by efforts by Democrats and some Republicans to insert language unrelated to immigration. Those proposals revolved around banning the use of federal funds, and even private donations, to build a lavish 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the White House grounds that President Trump wants.
Senators also debated a provision that would make it illegal to use federal funds for “anti-weaponization” funds that compensate President Trump’s political allies for alleged government mistreatment.
None of these amendments were approved.
The money provided by the bill would help pay for President Trump’s controversial immigration deportation crackdown over the next three years and shore up about $100 billion in unused law enforcement funding for the Department of Homeland Security that Republicans who control Congress enacted last year.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the “Beautiful, Clean Coal” event in the Oval Office of the White House on June 4, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietch | Getty Images
Lawmakers began voting on amendments to the immigration bill in a “Vote-a-Rama” session early Thursday morning, culminating in a vote on the underlying bill early Friday.
The first move by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to eliminate the “anti-weaponization” fund, which Democrats called a “slush fund” for Trump’s allies, caused Congress to halt for several hours, mostly on procedure, after Republican Sen. Susan Collins voted in favor of the motion.
She was later joined by Republicans Jon Husted and Dan Sullivan.
Mr. Schumer’s bill failed on a 50-49 vote, exposing the political turmoil among rank-and-file Senate Republicans. Some of them called for their own amendment to permanently eliminate the fund five months before the November midterm elections.
Collins, Husted and Sullivan all face fierce campaigns for re-election as President Trump’s approval ratings decline even among Republicans.
“Republicans have refused to permanently outlaw Trump’s $2 billion slush fund, leaving taxpayers reliant solely on the promise of Donald Trump’s personal fixer,” Schumer said in a statement after the vote, referring to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “That’s not accountability. It’s a license.”
Critics say the fund allows Trump to use tax dollars to compensate political allies, but the White House and Justice Department have already put a hold on it.
But on Wednesday, Trump declined to say whether the fund had actually ended, telling reporters, “I love this fund. I think it’s very important.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) speaks during the confirmation hearing for U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh at the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, DC, on April 21, 2026.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who opposed Schumer’s motion, told reporters he would not support passage of the funding bill without a Republican amendment vote to codify Blanche’s congressional testimony that the administration was abandoning the fund.
Tillis argued that failing to do so would burden Republican lawmakers up for re-election in November who are concerned about voter backlash against the fund.
Opponents call funding ‘imminent and dire threat’
Almost all of the immigration bill’s funding would go to DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agencies, which are carrying out the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation efforts across the country.
Tillis later proposed his own amendment that would reallocate controversial Trump Fund funds to anti-fraud efforts. Although it had the support of 12 Republican senators, it was rejected by a vote of 84-15.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) questions a witness during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on September 17, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Nathan Posner | Anadolu | Getty Images
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who proposed his own amendment to eliminate the fund, along with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, also asked U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in a friend-of-the-court brief to uphold the injunction on Mr. Trump’s fund that he imposed last week.
They argued that the fund “poses an imminent and dire threat to our nation’s constitutional order and the authority of Congress.”
A number of President Trump’s recent actions, from his request for $1 billion in taxpayer funds to upgrade the White House banquet hall and security, to his decision to nominate Blanche as attorney general and political ally Bill Peult as director of intelligence, have drawn open criticism from some Republicans.
Mr. Cassidy, who lost last month’s Louisiana primary to two challengers aligned with Mr. Trump, has proposed a series of amendments, including one that would invalidate Mr. Trump’s agreement with the Internal Revenue Service that protects him from tax audits.
