Senate passes DHS budget resolution after all-night vote-a-rama

Republicans framed the budget resolution as a necessary fix to what they described as a 110-day Democratic shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the resolution "the first step in fully funding our law enforcement and border security" and said the three-year funding window would "prevent this from happening again."

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., was more pointed: "Democrats have shut down the Department of Homeland Security for over 110 days this Congress. They have prioritized political games and open borders. And they have shown they are unserious about the safety of our nation."

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, described the vote in stark terms. "The contrast couldn't be clearer: Republicans are backing law enforcement and voting to keep Americans safe, all while working to end Democrats' DHS shutdown. Democrats are voting to defund the police and supporting policies that allow criminal illegal immigrants to harm — and in some instances, kill — innocent Americans."

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., kept it short: "This shutdown has gone on long enough. It's time for it to end."

Democrats used the vote-a-rama to force Republicans on the record against a string of cost-of-living measures. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., pushed an amendment capping child care costs at seven percent of household income — the federal affordability threshold — and filed additional amendments on gas prices, tariff refunds for small businesses, prescription drug reforms, NIH funding, and CFPB restoration. Republicans voted each one down.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., offered a measure to prevent insurance companies from denying or delaying medically necessary care, citing a Johns Hopkins study linking prior authorization to "disease exacerbation, preventable hospitalization, prolonged hospital stay, and lower rates of disease-free survival." Republicans blocked it. "Think of the retired Georgia teacher who had paid over $100,000 into a cancer policy only to be diagnosed with cancer and have her insurance claims denied," Ossoff said on the Senate floor.

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., cast the night's choices in the broadest terms. "This is a choice between continuing to funnel money to the corporations and the billionaires, to Trump's inner circle at the expense of the American people, continue to funnel this to ICE, and to the lawlessness that we see of Stephen Miller's campaign against immigrants. Or we could funnel this towards the American people that are struggling right now."

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., offered an amendment to force release of frozen FEMA disaster relief funds for California and other states. He said three Republicans crossed over to support it, but it fell short. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., noted that TSA and Coast Guard officers remain without full funding while the resolution adds "an additional $70 billion" to ICE and CBP on top of what she said was more than $75 billion already set to flow from the earlier reconciliation bill.

Murkowski was the only Republican on record opposing the resolution. Her objection was institutional, not substantive: she said she supports funding for border and homeland security but argued the three-year funding mechanism stretched beyond Congress's appropriate role. "The budget resolution before us last night would have funded two agencies for three years, extending into the next administration and removing the level of oversight that Congress owes the American people," she said. "Congress cannot abdicate its core oversight and appropriations responsibilities in the process."

Two Republican senators used the vote-a-rama to force votes on voter ID legislation, both of which fell short. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pushed an amendment directing the Senate Rules Committee to insert key SAVE Act provisions into the reconciliation bill — a photo ID requirement to register to vote, a photo ID requirement to vote, and a rule requiring all federal election votes be counted within 36 hours of Election Day. The final vote was 48-50. "It was a close vote but a heartbreaking loss," Kennedy's office said. "Where I come from, your word is your bond," Kennedy said in explaining his push.

In a separate floor speech, Cassidy pressed the full SAVE America Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. He argued the bill has broad public backing. "71 percent of Democrats and 95 percent of Republicans agree you should have to show a photo ID when you go to vote," Cassidy said. "The SAVE America Act does not make it harder to vote; it ensures that only American citizens vote in American elections."

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., whose amendment to extend a ban on taxpayer-funded transgender treatments for minors also failed, sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson Thursday calling on the House to include the ban in its version of the reconciliation bill before a July 4 expiration date.

More than 40 Senate Democrats and independents introduced the Absentee and Mail Voter Protection Act, which would nullify President Trump's March 31 executive order directing USPS to reject delivery of mail ballots for voters not on federally maintained eligibility lists. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., said the order "is an attempt to spread election misinformation and silence American voters." Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., went further: "Donald Trump is scared of that track record in our state and elsewhere because he knows a free and fair election this November has his party heading for major losses."

A parallel letter to the Postmaster General, signed by more than 35 senators, demanded USPS uphold existing federal law rather than implement the executive order. "The Constitution provides no role for the President in regulating federal elections. And no statute delegates to the President any authority to regulate elections or voter eligibility either, including via USPS," the letter states.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before both the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate HELP Committee Thursday, drawing pointed questioning from senators on both sides of the aisle. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., pressed Kennedy to state on the record that the measles vaccine is safe and effective — which Kennedy did, a notable shift from his prior public posture. "I definitely saw it as a shift," Bennet said in a CNN interview afterward, adding that he believes Kennedy should resign because "the misinformation that he has sent out to America has meant that moms and dads have been really scared about whether to get their kids vaccinated."

Sen. Alsobrooks, appearing on MSNBC after her own round of questioning, said Kennedy's answers had grown "more disturbing" with each encounter. "It was ignorant. It was deeply racist. It was disturbing," she said of an unspecified exchange, repeating her call for his immediate resignation or firing.

On the Republican side, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., questioned Kennedy about screen time's effects on youth mental health and Head Start nutrition funding. Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., said the hearing was "a great" opportunity to discuss "efforts to help Americans lead more healthy lives." Cassidy separately secured a commitment from Kennedy during the Finance Committee hearing to expedite approval of Louisiana's outstanding Medicaid provider tax pre-print before the state's fiscal year begins in two months.

Sen. Merkley, ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, led more than 30 colleagues — including Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. — in raising concerns about a March 31 reorganization plan for the U.S. Forest Service. The letter warned that the reorganization "may lead to additional capacity and workforce reductions throughout the agency," potentially affecting more than 6,500 employees on top of thousands already lost through deferred resignation programs.

"After the deep cuts over the previous year, a 2025 survey by the Partnership for Public Service found that the USFS was significantly worse at fulfilling stakeholder needs and providing quality service than a year earlier," the senators wrote. The Maryland delegation filed a separate, more targeted letter pressing for answers on the proposed closure of the USFS Baltimore Urban Field Station, which has operated out of the University of Maryland Baltimore County campus since 1998.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., led a bipartisan letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer urging the administration to protect and expand agricultural market access under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement ahead of the agreement's six-year joint review. The letter, signed by more than 40 senators from both parties, cited $176 billion in total U.S. agricultural exports in 2024. "For many states, Canada and Mexico represent the largest and second-largest export markets," the senators wrote. "The market access achieved under USMCA is a critical component of the success of American agriculture."

The letter's signatory list spans the Agriculture Committee's membership and crosses party lines broadly, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Two Republican senators announced identical $29.87 million FEMA disbursements for Louisiana hurricane recovery Thursday — both Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Cassidy issued separate releases covering the same pool of funds for damage from Hurricanes Laura and Ida. The money covers school repairs in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, rebuilding at two Catholic dioceses, and administrative recovery costs at the Louisiana Department of Health. "After a storm, we need to get communities back up and running as quickly as possible," Cassidy said.

In North Carolina, Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., announced more than $238 million in FEMA Public Assistance grants for Hurricane Helene recovery in Western North Carolina, crediting DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin with clearing bureaucratic delays. "Secretary Mullin is delivering on the promises he made to the people of Western North Carolina," Budd said.

Sen. Hoeven announced Thursday that North Dakota will receive 45 additional Agricultural Research Service employees and 10 new research projects totaling approximately $28.5 million in annual work, relocated from Maryland's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center as part of USDA's broader reorganization. "North Dakota is already a premier agriculture research hub, so it only makes sense that USDA would bring new, ongoing research projects and additional ARS employees to our state," Hoeven said.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., separately welcomed the relocation of one research project and 10 employees to the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska. "This move by the USDA is one that will benefit Nebraska's farmers and ranchers," Fischer said.

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, used a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to highlight Idaho National Laboratory's schedule to bring three micro-reactors critical by July 4, in compliance with an executive order on advanced nuclear deployment. Energy Secretary Chris Wright called it "a huge deal" and endorsed Risch's Advancing Reliable Capacity Act. "We have a lot of things coming together right now. A lot of private capital, a lot of innovation, a President who signed four executive orders," Wright said.

Risch introduced the ARC Act in February 2026 to reduce cost overrun risks for new commercial nuclear projects. He is the founder and co-chair of the Senate Advanced Nuclear Caucus.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., announced Thursday that the Trump administration agreed to release more than $400 million in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds following a bipartisan Senate letter she organized earlier this month. New York will receive an additional $40.3 million, bringing its total LIHEAP allocation to $401.2 million for the year — a $20 million increase over the prior year. "LIHEAP is a commonsense, bipartisan program," Gillibrand said. "In the coldest and hottest months of the year, it lowers the cost of living and saves lives."

Gillibrand used the announcement to flag the administration's FY2027 budget proposal, which she said would "completely eliminate" all LIHEAP funding while increasing defense spending.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., led a bicameral letter demanding answers from CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought on the bureau's October 2025 cancellation of a $25 million consent order against Citibank for discriminating against Armenian American credit card applicants. The CFPB had originally intended the order to remain in effect until 2028. "Citi employees also referred to applicants as 'Armenian bad guys' and the 'Southern California Armenian Mafia' and negatively singling out their creditworthiness, behavior which was actively encouraged by supervisors and trainers," the lawmakers wrote. "The decision to terminate the consent order is a clear abdication of this responsibility."

Signals

• volumeThursday output of 59 releases runs 29.7% below the Thursday rolling average of 83.9, consistent with a chamber consumed by an all-night floor session rather than regular communications work.
• coordinatedSens. Kennedy and Cassidy each issued separate press releases announcing the identical $29,872,642 FEMA Louisiana disbursement, a dual-announcement pattern that maximizes in-state media placement for the same federal action.
• coordinatedThe Forest Service reorganization letter and the USPS vote-by-mail letter each drew 30+ Democratic signatories on the same day, suggesting coordinated rollout of two major multi-senator oversight documents timed to the vote-a-rama cycle.
• silent breaksSen. Murkowski, R-Alaska, issued a statement opposing the budget resolution — a rare public break from Republican leadership on a party-line procedural vote.
• recessThe Senate is 11 days from an early May state work period; no scheduled floor votes appear on the current calendar.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY52d
• Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC36d
• Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI30d