Senate Republicans have pushed through a major immigration bill after a marathon session on the floor, Fox News reported. The measure cleared the chamber by a vote of 52 to 47, the culmination of more than 18 hours of work and dozens of individual votes that stretched into the early hours of Friday morning.
At the heart of the legislation is a large injection of money into immigration enforcement. According to the report, the bill allots nearly 70 billion dollars for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, and is written so that the funding would last through the end of President Trump's term in office.
The vote fell largely along partisan lines, with Democrats and some others declining to support the package. One Republican framed the outcome in stark terms, saying that his party had stepped up to do the job Democrats refused to do, while critics on the Republican side accused Democrats of being unwilling to back funding for the border.
Democrats, for their part, said they had been holding out for specific changes to how enforcement is carried out. They pushed for reforms such as requiring judicial warrants and banning officers from wearing masks, with one lawmaker arguing that such measures help keep agents accountable and protect both the people being subject to enforcement and the officers themselves.
Those proposed amendments, however, did not survive the process. The report said the Democratic measures failed, as did a set of bipartisan amendments that would have blocked President Trump from setting up a proposed 1.8 billion dollar fund to pay people who claim they were persecuted by the government.
That fund became a particular flashpoint during the debate, with many worried it could end up making payouts to some of those involved in the January 6th riot. Attorney General Blanche has said the so-called anti-weaponization fund will not be used, but opponents countered that it remains part of an active settlement and absolutely can be tapped.
One critic warned that if the administration would not rule out potentially multi-million dollar payments to people who assaulted police, then lawmakers had to act to prevent it. With the Senate's work now finished, attention shifts to the other chamber, as Fox News reported that the House is set to vote on the immigration bill next week.