The House on Wednesday narrowly adopted a Republican budget blueprint that would allow the G.O.P. to blow past Democratic opposition and pour an additional $70 billion into immigration enforcement through the remainder of President Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n
The measure is a crucial step in Republicans\u2019 plan to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, ending a shutdown that has lasted for nearly 11 weeks.<\/p>\n
Republicans pushed through the plan, which the Senate adopted last week, on a party-line vote of 215 to 211, with one independent lawmaker voting \u201cpresent.\u201d That set the stage for the G.O.P. to begin working on a special budget measure, shielded from a filibuster in the Senate, to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, the two agencies charged with carrying out the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the moment we take the keys, and we say, no more of this nonsense,\u201d said Representative Jodey C. Arrington, Republican of Texas and chairman of the Budget Committee. \u201cAnd we open up the people\u2019s government and we restore the safety and security of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The budget plan \u2014 which stalled in the House for more than five hours as Republicans fought among themselves over measures on agriculture and ethanol that had nothing to do with immigration \u2014 was part of the two-track strategy that Republicans agreed to earlier this month to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, whose funding lapsed on Feb. 14.<\/p>\n
Democrats had refused to fund the department without new restrictions on federal immigration agents\u2019 conduct, and Republicans had refused to agree to any. Then last month, Senate Republicans struck a deal with Democrats to allow the spending measure for the Department of Homeland Security to pass with no funding for or restrictions on immigration enforcement. The G.O.P. would then seek to fund ICE and C.B.P. through a process known as reconciliation, which exempts certain budget bills from a filibuster and allows them to pass the Senate on a simple-majority vote.<\/p>\n
Approval of the budget plan was a crucial first step for Republicans to begin the reconciliation process, which will deprive Democrats of the ability to block the bill funding ICE and C.B.P. President Trump has directed Congress to pass that measure by June 1.<\/p>\n