“Republicans want to shell out billions of dollars to Donald Trump’s private army ​without any common sense restraints or reforms,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told a press conference. At the same time, Republicans have accused Democrats of wanting to “defund” crucial immigration and Border Patrol operations.“Republicans are moving forward with a budget resolution that will allow us to fund critical functions that Democrats refuse to support: law enforcement, drug interdiction, border security, protecting children,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor.The ‌Senate was expected to begin a marathon “vote-a-rama” session late on Wednesday, with multiple votes on proposed amendments expected ahead ⁠of a final vote on passage before lawmakers leave ⁠Washington on Thursday.

Senate passage would send the measure to the House ⁠of Representatives.“Republicans must stick together and ⁠UNIFY to get this done,” ⁠Trump said in a social media posting on Wednesday. Republicans hope to push the new funding for ICE and Border Patrol through Congress with a rarely used procedure known as budget reconciliation, which allows some budget-related legislation to bypass ⁠Democratic opposition. Such measures require only a simple majority for passage in the 100-member Senate, instead of the usual supermajority of 60 votes or more.

Republicans hold a 53-47 seat majority. If the budget resolution passes both the House and the Senate, congressional committees would begin filling in the details on how the US$70 billion would be spent in separate legislation that Trump would have to sign into law. The new funding would be expected ⁠to run through Trump’s presidency.Funding for most of DHS ran out more than nine weeks ago, as Democrats pressed Republicans and the White House to accept new constraints on ICE and ⁠Border Patrol, which operate under the direction of DHS.

After two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by immigration enforcement agents in ⁠Minneapolis, Democrats ⁠insisted that ICE and Border Patrol should be subject to the same operational rules as police forces across the United States, including ​a requirement that judicial warrants be obtained before agents can enter private ​homes. But weeks of negotiations ended in a stalemate. The ‌Senate has since passed legislation to fund DHS operations other than ICE ​and Border Patrol. But the measure ​has stalled in the House, where hardline Republicans have demanded funding for those two entities as well. — Reuters