U.S. Senate to move ahead on budget process overhauling immigration, border security

By: Eliot Pierce

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Washington The long and probably difficult reconciliation process that the Republican Party hopes to utilize to accomplish comprehensive reforms to immigration and border security will begin next week when the U.S. Senate Budget Committee marks up a budget resolution.

The markup was announced on Wednesday by Republican chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, ahead of the House, which had intended to pass a budget agreement this week.

In a statement, Graham said, “I agree with those who think Republicans should follow through on their promises regarding border security and the mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens.”

In order to prevent the release of more dangerous individuals into the country, the Senate Budget Committee will proceed next week to provide Tom Homan, the Border Czar for the Trump Administration, with the funding he needs to complete the wall, hire ICE agents to deport criminal illegal immigrants, and build more detention beds.

According to Graham, the reconciliation bill will be the most revolutionary border security measure in our nation’s history.

A budget resolution passed by Congress outlines the goals of politicians for the next ten years in terms of taxes and spending. There is no real federal spending included in it.

Before Congress formally opens the reconciliation process to allow Republicans to implement their plans without Democratic backing, the House and Senate must agree to adopt the same budget resolution.

Even though the Republican Party controls both houses of Congress, Senate rules restrict debate on important proposals by requiring a minimum of 60 votes from members. Currently holding 53 seats, Republicans fall short of the supermajority required to pass legislation through the regular process without the support of Democrats.

As long as the various components of the package address revenue or spending in a way that the Senate lawmaker does not consider merely incidental, the GOP can circumvent the 60-vote requirement through the reconciliation process, which has stringent criteria in the Senate. Additionally, Social Security cannot be altered by reconciliation laws.

The House may not vote to accept the same budget resolution if Senate Republicans move first on it, particularly if it simply includes reconciliation instructions to address immigration and border security.

For months, House Republican leaders have urged Congress to pass all of their policy objectives—including those related to energy and taxes—through a single reconciliation bill.

Graham and other Senate Republicans have stated that the party should draft two distinct reconciliation measures, one addressing taxes and the other border security.

The House and Senate must agree which committees will receive reconciliation instructions and what those instructions will say, but they are not required to spell out all the policy elements of the final reconciliation package in the budget resolution.

GOP leaders will have to set aside floor time to debate the budget resolution after the Senate Budget Committee passes it to the Senate floor. However, senators must participate in the vote-a-rama, which is usually an all-night marathon session in which senators from both parties propose dozens of modifications to the budget resolution, before the upper chamber may hold a final vote on the resolution.

In a primary or general election, Democrats will use the process to hold senators who have difficult chances of winning reelection in 2026 accountable for their views.

The Senate’s budget resolution would then be sent to the House, where Republican leaders might decide whether to embrace it or amend it, in which case it would need to be sent back to the Senate.

Another option is for the House to present its own budget resolution to the Budget Committee, have it approved by the House, and then meet with the Senate.

That’s all before the Senate and House start debating the reconciliation measure and the actual policy changes on the floor and in committees.

Last month, Louisiana Republican Speaker Mike Johnson expressed his optimism that the process will be completed by the end of May.

With only 218 seats currently held by Republicans in the House compared to Democrats’ 215 members, GOP leaders have an exceptionally small margin to operate within. Later this year, special elections will be held to fill the two open positions.

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