The Dictatorship
Senate Republicans fall in line with Trump and pass reconciliation bill
After a marathon session of votes Thursday and Friday, senators passed a roughly $70 billion reconciliation bill funding immigration enforcement, as more moderate Republicans abandoned efforts to constrain President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion settlement fund — and a host of other controversies — and advanced the legislation without imposing any new restrictions on the president.
After more than 18 hours of voting, party loyalty ultimately prevailed. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., successfully navigated a series of politically fraught amendments that could have forced Republicans into direct confrontations with Trump.
At 4:52 a.m., senators voted 52-47 to pass the bill, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, as the lone Republican to oppose the final measure.
The legislation now goes to the House, where it faces further drama. GOP leaders initially planned to vote Friday in order to send the measure to Trump’s desk before the weekend. But facing potential attendance problems, House Republicans canceled Friday votes and are instead eying passage next week.
While some Republican critics of Trump broke with their party on individual amendments — and, in Murkowski’s case, on final passage — there were never enough defections to push Democratic proposals over the finish line. Depending on parliamentary rulings, amendments needed either a simple majority or 60 votes to pass. And amendments that required 60 votes received up to 54 votes in favor, while measures that only required a majority stalled out at 49.
It was either a fortuitous stroke of luck for GOP leaders or an intentional display of bipartisan theater, depending on who you asked.
At one point, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., asked to change a mistaken “nay” vote to a “yea” after it was already clear the outcome wouldn’t change. The switch allowed him to register support for a Democratic proposal barring federal or private funds for Trump’s planned East Wing ballroom. The Senate agreed unanimously, nudging support from 52 senators to 53 — still well short of the 60 votes required.
Cassidy was the most persistent Republican holdout. About 17 hours into the amendment marathon, he offered a measure to redirect the $1.8 billion settlement fund to law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That measure garnered 52 votes in support, short of the 60 required.
“I was hoping that we could both have money to protect the border, but still do that which I hope to achieve,” Cassidy told reporters midway through the votes, referring to his efforts to block Trump’s $1.8 billion settlement fund.
The bill’s passage highlights a persistent clarity of purpose among Republican lawmakers, despite several weeks of drama.
“We’ve sort of lost sight of our ultimate objective here,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters ahead of the votes on Thursday. “The objective is to get DHS funded, and we’ve had some — some unrelated issues that have been thrust into the process, and they’ve got to be dealt with.”
The biggest point of contention throughout the votes was Trump’s proposed settlement fund, stemming from his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Democrats and a small group of Republican holdouts argued that Congress should prohibit the fund outright, regardless of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s promise to abandon it. But the GOP-controlled Senate repeatedly refused to take action.
Senators first rejected a proposal by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to send the bill back to the Judiciary Committee with instructions to block Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund. That measure failed 49-50, short of the majority needed.
After expressing serious concerns about Trump’s settlement fund, Cassidy voted against that amendment and allowed the bill to move forward.
Next, members voted on an amendment from Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., to redirect the funds to anti-fraud enforcement, a proposal that drew complaints from Democrats who viewed it as simply shuffling money around. That measure failed 15-84, well short of the 60 votes necessary.
Cassidy spent hours trying to draft an amendment to address the Trump settlement fund so that it would only need a simple majority. He was ultimately unsuccessful. And when he failed, there were no repercussions for GOP leaders when his amendment suffered the same fate as all the other proposals.
Democrats were able to force votes on a number of hot-button issues.
A proposal by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., to bar federal funds for Trump’s East Wing ballroom — and to ban private donations unless authorized by Congress — drew 53 senators in support and 46 opposed, still well short of the 60 votes needed.
The close votes gave vulnerable Republicans and occasional Trump critics an opportunity to distance themselves from the administration without jeopardizing either the immigration funding package or Trump’s support.
The three most vulnerable incumbent Republicans in 2026 — Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Jon Husted, R-Ohio, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska — all supported Tillis’ unsuccessful amendment to redirect Trump’s settlement money.
Husted, a Trump ally who rarely bucks his party, trailed Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown by eight percentage points in a Fox News poll released Wednesday. Husted voted for all three key measures to block Trump’s settlement fund Thursday and Friday.
Mostly, however, the amendment votes gave Democrats an opportunity to force Republicans onto the record. Democrats sought votes to block Bill Pulte from serving as acting director of national intelligence, increase home construction, require unannounced inspections of the Delaney Hall detention facility and prevent settlement-fund payments to Tina Peters, the former Colorado county clerk convicted of leaking voter data.
Republicans also took the opportunity to vote again on the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to show proof of citizenship to register to vote. The measure failed 48-50, short of the 60 votes required. Collins, Tillis, Murkowski and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined Democrats in opposition.
For Democrats, the votes offered fresh material for an argument they have been making for months: that the private reservations Republicans express about Trump rarely translate to action when it counts.
Democrats have repeatedly pointed out that the Republican case against legislatively blocking the $1.8 billion fund — that it’s unnecessary because the Trump administration has already killed it, and that doing so could incur Trump’s veto — is self-violating. (Either the fund is dead and Trump shouldn’t care that Congress statutorily blocks it, or he’s trying to preserve his options as some lawmakers fear.)
But for Republicans, the immigration enforcement money was simply too important. And the amendment votes may have even worked to their advantage, as vulnerable Republicans could display their independence — even if that independence was largely symbolic.
With immigration enforcement funding hanging in the balance, most GOP lawmakers concluded that preserving party unity — and avoiding a direct confrontation with Trump — was more pressing than erecting new guardrails around the president.
The result was a familiar outcome. Republicans aired their concerns, Democrats forced uncomfortable votes, and Trump emerged with the legislative outcome he wanted.
Mychael Schnell and Lillie Boudreaux contributed to this report.
Jack Fitzpatrick covers Congress for MS NOW. He previously reported for Bloomberg Government, Morning Consult and National Journal. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State University.