Senate moving forward with reconciliation bill, dropping ballroom funds

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: CBS News

Washington — Senate Republicans are moving forward with a package to fund the Department of Homeland Security's immigration agencies on Wednesday, following a back-and-forth over the Justice Department's "anti-weaponization" fund that threatened to derail the long-sought funding.

A revised version of one part of the package released Wednesday also dropped language that would have provided $1 billion in security funding for the Secret Service, including for President Trump's East Wing renovation, where he plans to build a massive ballroom. That funding faced intense scrutiny from a handful of Republicans, prompting senators to abandon it.

Last month, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees unveiled the initial text of the $72 billion package, which funds immigration agencies through fiscal year 2029. The Senate is scheduled to vote on a motion to proceed to the measure during a vote series beginning at 2:15 p.m.

GOP senators have been seeking assurances from the administration about the fate of the controversial Justice Department fund, which was the subject of a heated meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche two weeks ago. Blanche testified before a House committee on Tuesday that "we are not moving forward with the fund."

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/senate-prepares-move-forward-reconciliation-153805782.html

[CousinIT]

1. THE SECOND Democrats take over the executive and at least one house ...

... of Congress, they must pass (via reconciliation if needed or suspension of the filibuster) a rescission of that $72 billion AND the money allocated to DHS/ICE in the big ugly bill, except for the funding levels DHS/ICE had back in December 2024. Then, take the rest of that money and use it to restore Medicaid and SNAP, rehire SSA employees and HHS scientists, and restore the NPS.

[maxsolomon]

3. If they don't take the Senate, they can't pass a Recission Bill.

Odds are not good.

We'll be lucky to take the House this year with the Gerrymandering the SCOTUS enabled.

[in2herbs]

2. It's my understanding that ICE was funded for the next three years under the BBB. nt

[maxsolomon]

4. ICE was.

Not the DHS. That's what Dems got out of the Shutdown - DHS funding pulled from the Continuation and pushed into Reconciliation. They forced the Repukes to waste 1 of 2 Reconciliation bills on DHS.

[slightlv]

5. We have way too many "police" and police-type agencies

not to kid ourselves we're a "free" country any longer. We're a police state, right up there with Russia, we are, IMO.

[maxsolomon]

6. Top of my list of items for Dems to eliminate is DHS.

It was a knee jerk reaction to 9-11 and was unnecessary.

Of course, RW Media would pillory the Dem President who did so as "soft on crime".

[slightlv]

7. There's one way we differ...

I don't think DHS was knee-jerk reaction to 911 (except to the public). I believe the R's have been wanting to create this for a long time. 911 just gave them the excuse they needed to get it passed through without any pushback. In that regard and others, I always will feel 911 was a LIHOP. If that makes me a CT, so be in. But deep in my gut, it's what I've felt ever since it happened. They've gotten so much traction from it, and so many things that would have been near impossible, otherwise... like all the surveillance and all the contracts for Palantir and other spy-adjacent companies. The "Soft on Crime" meme has done us far more harm... not only in concrete ways such as killing things like DHS before they got started, but also on crime statistics, themselves. Stats show how crime and democracy are so much better under Democratic admins, but the meme is so strong, the R's keep being handed the "touch on crime" and better for the economy headlines. It's a real shame Americans are not smarter people.