Senate Republicans introduced a budget resolution to fund immigration enforcement agencies, initiating the first step in a budget process aimed at ending a record-breaking partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. For months, House and Senate Democrats have insisted they will not fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) without major reforms following the deaths of two U.S. citizens in encounters with federal agents earlier this year. Republicans are pursuing budget reconciliation to try to approve funding along party lines and avoid needing Democratic support.
Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham unveiled the resolution, which would authorize the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees to draft legislation that could increase the deficit by up to $70 billion each; a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the final figure is expected to be $70 billion total. That funding is intended to cover the agencies for roughly 3.5 years. President Trump set a June 1 deadline for passage.
Reconciliation is a parliamentary tool created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that lets the majority party pass certain budget-related legislation in the Senate with a simple majority (51 votes), bypassing the 60‑vote threshold typically needed to overcome a filibuster. It’s intended to make it easier to adjust laws that change federal revenue or mandatory spending. Reconciliation has been used intermittently since 1980 and has been the vehicle for major recent measures: Republicans’ 2017 tax cuts; Democrats’ COVID-19 relief package and the Inflation Reduction Act; and more recently, a Republican package dubbed One Big Beautiful Bill.
The reconciliation process generally follows two stages. First, Congress adopts a budget resolution that gives instructions to specific congressional committees to draft legislation achieving designated budget targets (for example, changing spending or revenues by a set amount). Once those committees produce bills consistent with the instructions, the House and Senate consider the combined package, and differences between the chambers must be resolved.
A distinctive feature of reconciliation is the “vote‑a‑rama,” a marathon series of amendment votes that occurs after debate ends. Vote‑a‑ramas let senators offer many amendments in rapid succession; they provide an opportunity for the minority party to press objections and attempt to alter or block parts of the package via budget points of order. There are typically two vote‑a‑ramas during reconciliation: one on the budget resolution itself and a more consequential one on the final legislative package.
Reconciliation has important limits. It can be used for changes to the debt limit, mandatory spending, and revenues, but not for discretionary spending. The Byrd rule—named after former Sen. Robert Byrd—permits senators to object to provisions that lack a direct budgetary effect; the Senate parliamentarian advises whether challenged provisions violate the rule. Provisions that do not change spending or revenues, that affect Social Security, or that extend beyond the budget window (usually 10 years) can be stricken under the Byrd rule.
Because of those constraints and the procedural complexity, reconciliation is not a universal substitute for regular order; it’s best suited for budget-focused changes. Still, for Republicans seeking to fund DHS agencies without Democratic votes, reconciliation offers a path to advance legislation with only a Senate majority. This story is adapted from an earlier NPR article.