The Senate has kicked off another marathon session of amendment votes on Republicans’ massive $70 billion immigration enforcement bill.
It is the sixth “vote-a-rama” of the 119th Congress, an unusually high number prompted by Republicans’ interest in moving multiple party-line bills under budget reconciliation rules that set up the exhausting voting rounds.
“I suspect there will be a lot of amendments today on a lot of topics,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned in a floor speech, but one topic will have an outsized focus.
A flurry of amendments from both parties are expected to attempt to put into law guardrails or an outright prohibition on President Donald Trump’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” That’s despite acting Attorney General Todd Blanche telling House appropriators Tuesday that the administration would scrap plans for the fund, which could have offered payouts to Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
