'Why give MORE money to ICE': Sen. Amy Klobuchar after Senate clears ICE funding bill

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar strongly criticized the Senate's passage of a $70 billion budget reconciliation package, which secures funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through the remainder of President Donald Trump's term. During the marathon legislative session, Democrats also failed to block the controversial $1.8 billion Department of Justice "anti-weaponization" fund. Following the vote, Klobuchar highlighted the grueling overnight session, noting that she had been voting until 5:00 AM in an effort to block the funding.

"And why give MORE money to ICE when they're already bigger than the FBI? The extra 70B could instead fund yrs of health care!" Klobuchar wrote on X. The funding bill had stalled in the Senate for several weeks as Republicans raised concerns over the anti-weaponization fund, which sparked fears of being used to compensate January 6 insurrectionists who attacked law enforcement officers.

The bill, excluding the fund, was passed after a gruelling 18-hour session of amendment votes, as per the Washington Post. It was one of the final steps for GOP lawmakers to circumvent the appropriations process without requiring Democratic votes. Every amendment to block the funding was defeated, including one proposed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune. It failed on a procedural vote as only 12 Republicans and three Democrats voted for it.

Thune still urged Republicans to do a stump speech test. "Republicans should do the stump speech test on this issue, particularly the ones who are in the cycle," he said. "'I stand solidly behind an administration that wants to potentially provide compensation to people who assaulted Capitol police officers. I stand fully behind that.' Test that on the stump and see how it works out for you in November."

Democratic pushback against the funding bill passing in the Senate has been strong. In a separate post on X, Klobuchar claimed that the administration was focused on rewarding ICE and January 6 insurrectionists rather than bringing down the cost of living for Americans. Rep. Adelita Grijalva pointed to the funding immigration enforcement agencies received as part of the Big Beautiful Bill and slammed the latest Senate vote. "That's nearly a quarter-TRILLION (yes, with a T) dollars to expand Trump's deportation machine with ZERO accountability. The House must say NO," she wrote on X.

The bill's passing in the Senate was a big win for the GOP, but it still has to go through the House before President Trump can sign off on it. Recently, the House voted to put limits on the President's war powers over growing frustration about the conflict in Iran. Four GOP Representatives broke from Trump, and it will be interesting to see whether they would back the President with regard to different legislation.