Democrats, Republicans clash over $70B ICE bill as Memorial Day recess nears

Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to advance the Secure America Act out of the Senate Budget Committee, providing three years of dedicated funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., framed the package in floor remarks as a response to Democratic obstruction: "For the first time in four years, the United States has a secure border. Under Joe Biden and the Democrats, ten million illegal immigrants flooded into our country."

Democrats pushed back hard on both the substance and the process. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in a joint statement that Republicans were "using it again to enlarge the ICE and Border Patrol slush fund by another $70 billion" and called on colleagues to vote against the bill on the floor. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., speaking from the Senate floor, said the funding was misplaced: "That multi-billion-dollar check isn't for lowering the price of groceries, energy, health care, or gas. It's not for bringing back the manufacturing jobs this administration has lost us."

Murray zeroed in on what Democrats said they had tried to negotiate. "These were common sense things we were asking for. Who refused every single time? Every common-sense request we made? [It] was Stephen Miller. And now what we have is a giant package that benefits only Donald Trump and Stephen Miller," she said at the markup. Warner and Kaine separately cited named constituents: "Renée Good and Alex Pretti shot and killed in broad daylight by federal agents, families rounded up, and children separated from their parents."

Cortez Masto shared firsthand accounts of DACA recipients she said had been detained despite active status, including a woman she identified only as Maria: "She said it was one of the most traumatic experiences of her life."

Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution Wednesday to overturn the WISeR pilot program, a CMS model that uses artificial intelligence to conduct prior authorization in Traditional Medicare across six states — Arizona, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Ohio, Texas, and Washington — effective since January 1, 2026.

Murray said a Government Accountability Office decision, commissioned by Senate Democrats, confirmed the program meets the definition of a rule subject to CRA requirements and was never properly submitted to Congress before taking effect. "President Trump came into office saying that he wouldn't cut Medicare — but that's effectively what the WISeR model does by delaying and denying claims using AI — and the consequences are serious," Murray said. "I constantly hear from patients who are suffering because they are not getting the care they need soon enough thanks to a rushed and inappropriate deployment of this harmful model."

The release noted that participating companies are compensated based on a share of "averted expenditures" — meaning they are financially incentivized to deny prior authorization requests. Several procedures newly subject to prior authorization under the model treat patients experiencing debilitating pain.

Three Republican senators filed or highlighted legislation Wednesday targeting economic and technological exposure to China, a loose cluster that touched agriculture exports, consumer robotics, and capital markets.

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., in a floor statement announced the MARKET Act, directing USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative to identify ways to reduce agricultural dependence on China. "Communist China, at the end of the day, is a bad trading partner. We need to make sure we hold them accountable for the commitments they make," Ricketts said. He tied the bill to Nebraska's beef and renewable fuels industries and noted the state has seen "wildfires that are the worst in our state's history, burning over a million acres."

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., introduced the Blocking CCP Spy Tech Act of 2026, which would give federal agencies one year to investigate six Hangzhou-based tech firms — collectively called the "Six Little Dragons" — and determine whether their products should be placed on the FCC's Covered List. Scott said: "Communist China is not our friend. They have chosen to be our enemies and want to destroy us." The release noted that one of the firms, Unitree Robotics, allegedly integrated an undocumented remote access tunnel called "CloudSail" into its platforms connecting to servers in China.

Two victim-protection bills moved toward the president's desk Wednesday, both championed by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and both drawing bipartisan support in both chambers.

The House passed Lulu's Law, which requires the FCC to transmit wireless emergency alerts when a shark attack occurs. The bill passed the Senate unanimously in July 2025. Britt said: "After working to get this law passed for over a year, I'm proud we were able to deliver in honor of Lulu's story, which is a tale of incredible courage and perseverance." The bill is named for Lulu Gribbin of Mountain Brook, Alabama, who sustained near-fatal injuries in a June 2024 shark attack; another swimmer had been attacked 90 minutes earlier nearby.

The Senate separately passed TREY's Law unanimously Wednesday — legislation that voids non-disclosure agreements silencing survivors of child sexual abuse. The bill is named for Trey Carlock, who died by suicide at 28 after being silenced by an NDA following abuse at a Kanakuk Ministries camp. Britt said from the floor: "Victims should be in control of when and where and if they tell their story, they should never be silenced or sidelined." Lead sponsor Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined Britt as a floor sponsor; the bill now heads to the House.

Two Democratic senators raised separate water contamination concerns Wednesday — one announcing new funding, the other condemning a federal rollback.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., announced $40,525,000 in federal funding to combat PFAS contamination in New York, drawn from the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities grant program authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. "Safe, clean drinking water is a fundamental right for every New Yorker," Gillibrand said. "While the Trump administration has taken an ax to the very programs designed to protect our water, I've been fighting on the Senate Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee for the release of funding to combat PFAS contamination." The release noted the EPA this week proposed repealing existing limits on PFAS in drinking water.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., released a brief statement on the Trump administration's decision to roll back limits on forever chemicals in drinking water — though the release text provided was truncated and did not include extended remarks.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., led a Senate floor block Wednesday condemning the Supreme Court's April 29 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which he said would "effectively eliminate another key component of the landmark Voting Rights Act."

In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier in the day, Padilla pressed the Legal Defense Fund's Todd A. Cox on congressional intent. "When the Supreme Court then interpreted section two to require proof of intentional discrimination, Congress responded pretty unambiguously. It revised section two to prohibit any election practice that resulted in the denial or abridgement of a citizen's right to vote on account of race or color. There was no real question as to what that language meant," Padilla said. The ruling, authored by Justice Alito in a 6-3 decision, found a minority-opportunity district in Louisiana unconstitutional, enabling states to more easily eliminate minority representation. Padilla linked the decision to what he described as broader administration efforts to alter election rules and highlighted his Redistricting Reform Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act as legislative responses.

The full Mississippi congressional delegation — both senators and four House members — sent President Trump a letter Wednesday urging approval of a major disaster declaration for five counties hit by tornadoes on May 6-7.

The letter, signed by Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., along with Reps. Bennie Thompson, Trent Kelly, Michael Guest, and Mike Ezell, cited an EF3 tornado that "at times, exceeded a mile in width and remained on the ground for nearly 70 miles." The delegation wrote that "the magnitude of the destruction has placed extraordinary strain on state and local resources, and the capabilities of volunteer and charitable organizations alone will not be sufficient to meet the long-term recovery needs of affected communities." The request covers Lamar, Lincoln, Franklin, Lawrence, and Wilkinson counties for both individual and public assistance.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, applauded the Pentagon Wednesday for awarding a three-year, $500 million ceiling Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract to Perennial Autonomy — an American company that developed its products alongside Ukrainian forces.

"Drone warfare is restructuring the modern battlefield. Our ability to counter adversarial drones cost-effectively will be critical in the years ahead," Wicker said. The contract was funded out of a $750 million appropriation to Joint Interagency Task Force 401 in the Working Families Tax Cut Act. Wicker said the contract would deliver "battle-tested Merops interceptors, Bumblebee drones, and more to our forces to defeat adversary drones."

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., chaired a Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee hearing Wednesday on three nuclear energy bills: the Build Nuclear with Local Materials Act, a discussion draft of the RECHARGE Act, and a discussion draft of the Enrichment Licensing Modernization Act.

"America must remain an economic superpower in the decades ahead, and that requires smart energy policy," Lummis said in her opening statement. She tied nuclear deployment to rising demand from data centers, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and Bitcoin mining, arguing all require reliable baseload power. The Build Nuclear with Local Materials Act, she said, addresses "unnecessary cost escalation in nuclear reactor construction by modernizing NRC rules governing commercial-grade steel and concrete in non-safety-related structures while preserving oversight of safety-critical systems."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., introduced the Abolish Super PACs Act Wednesday, which would cap individual contributions to super PACs at $5,000 — effectively shutting down their current scale of operation.

"In the 2024 elections, Elon Musk — the richest man in the world — spent at least $290 million to elect Trump, while the 100 richest billionaire families in the country spent $2.6 billion to elect the candidates of their choice," Sanders said. "You, as a citizen, get one vote. They, as oligarchs, get to buy the candidates. That's not democracy." The release noted that since Citizens United in 2010, billionaire election spending has risen more than 16,000 percent. The bill is backed by 17 House cosponsors and more than two dozen advocacy organizations.

Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler led ten Democratic lawmakers Wednesday in demanding the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reverse course on a proposal to end collection of EEO-1 demographic data — a program in place since 1966.

"The EEOC's mission to 'advance equal opportunity for all' can only be achieved through demographic data collection that offers a look into the practices of American workplaces," Blunt Rochester said. Nadler called the move "a slap in the face to millions of American workers." The letter's Senate signatories include Sens. Patty Murray, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ron Wyden. The release noted that last week every Republican on the House Appropriations Committee voted down a Democratic amendment to protect EEO-1 collection.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a statement Wednesday on the death of former Rep. Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who co-authored the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

"In the aftermath of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Barney Frank was the gravelly-voiced, smart-as-a-whip congressman who fought hard to get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over the finish line," Warren said. "His one-liners were wicked and wickedly funny. Barney delivered for working people, and the world is a poorer place without him."

Sens. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and John Kennedy, R-La., introduced the bipartisan Discount Window Preparedness Act of 2026 Wednesday, requiring banks to conduct regular test borrowing at the Federal Reserve's discount window and mandating regulators to credit those tests in liquidity evaluations.

"The failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in 2023 marked two of the largest bank failures in U.S. history. Those failures highlighted the need to reform the Federal Reserve's discount window for the 21st century economy, where bank runs can occur over hours, rather than days," Warner said. Kennedy added: "The Federal Reserve's discount window exists to be the lender of last resort, but banks need to be ready to use it before the wheels come off." Large institutions — those over $100 billion — would be required to test quarterly; mid-sized institutions semi-annually.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., delivered a major floor speech Wednesday on the rise of antisemitism and introduced the Jewish American Security Act, a bipartisan bill targeting antisemitism in academic settings, at Jewish communal institutions, and online.

Rosen opened by condemning recent statements by a Democratic House candidate in Texas who called for turning an ICE detention center into "a prison for American Zionists" — remarks Rosen said followed earlier posts referring to "the Jews who own Hollywood" as members of "the Synagogue of Satan." She argued that unchecked low-level antisemitism escalates: "It usually starts with a 'joke,' a slur, a comparison. It starts with what might be called 'casual' acts of antisemitism, that can be just easy to brush off. If left unchecked, this rhetoric can manifest into overt acts."

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., took the Senate floor Wednesday ahead of the Memorial Day weekend to honor U.S. Merchant Mariners and specifically Harold Dossett of Princeton, Indiana, who died aboard a Merchant Marine vessel in World War II.

In a floor statement, Young said: "As we prepare to observe Memorial Day this coming weekend, we remember the fallen sailors of the forgotten service, and we honor a young Hoosier who gave his life aboard one of its ships. Without the sacrifices of the Merchant Marine, America's military would be unable to win its war or to defend its people." Young noted that of 243,000 merchant mariners who served in World War II, nearly 9,500 died — a casualty rate he said exceeded that of the Marines, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy.

Signals

• volumeToday's 36 releases ran 62.9 percent below the Wednesday average of 97 — consistent with pre-recess contraction five days before the Memorial Day state work period.
• coordinatedSeven releases across four Democratic senators (Murray, Warner/Kaine, Cortez Masto, and Blunt Rochester as signatory) converged on opposition to the Secure America Act ICE funding package, timed to the Senate Budget Committee markup.
• recessThe Memorial Day state work period begins in five days; no floor votes are scheduled for today.
• coordinatedLummis and Barrasso each issued releases on the Barbara L. Cubin renaming bill within 26 minutes of each other, using nearly identical language — a standard Wyoming delegation coordinated rollout.
• silent breaksSen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK, has not issued a release in the archive (999 days quiet), an anomaly worth flagging given Oklahoma is one of six states subject to the WISeR Medicare AI pilot program targeted by Murray's CRA resolution today.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK—
• Sen. Tina Smith, D-MN21d
• Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-MT19d
• Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC16d