All posts tagged: Lindsey Graham

ICE immigration enforcement funding on track to Trump’s desk

ICE immigration enforcement funding on track to Trump’s desk

Published by Sam Flores

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during the news conference following the House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images The U.S. House is poised to vote to on a $70 billion package to fund immigration enforcement agencies and, after months of partisan fighting, send the measure to President Donald Trump’s desk. The package would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, two Department of Homeland Security subagencies left out of an earlier spending bill amid Democratic opposition, and bring to an end a drawn-out debate over immigration enforcement policy that began in January and led to a government shutdown. A final House vote to pass the immigration funding package could come as soon as Tuesday. The Senate passed the package early Friday morning on a 52-47 vote. It would fund the immigration enforcement agencies through the end of Trump’s presidency. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was the lone Republican to vote …

Trump flexes endorsement power for Ken Paxton after ousting Cassidy

Trump flexes endorsement power for Ken Paxton after ousting Cassidy

Published by Sam Flores

GOP Texas Senate Candidate Ken Paxton speaks to supporters at a watch party on March 3, 2026 in Dallas, Texas. Paxton and incumbent John Cornyn will face off again in a run off. Sergio Flores | Getty Images President Donald Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the state’s Republican Senate primary runoff Tuesday, throwing his weight behind a hard-line ally and dealing a major blow to incumbent Sen. John Cornyn one week before Election Day. The endorsement gives Paxton a major boost in one of the GOP’s most closely watched Senate primaries, a race that has become a test of Trump’s grip on Republican voters and the strength of the Senate GOP establishment. “Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate. He will tirelessly fight to continue the Great Growth of our Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “Ken Paxton has gone through a lot, in many cases, very unfairly, but he …

Trump signs DHS bill, ending shutdown for most of agency, including TSA

Trump signs DHS bill, ending shutdown for most of agency, including TSA

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, effectively ending the partial government shutdown that began in February. The U.S. House had approved the measure hours earlier following White House warnings that emergency funding for DHS would run out as soon as Friday. The funding bill’s passage comes after more than a month of House Republican opposition to the plan, which advanced unanimously out of the Senate in late March. “Speaker Johnson extended the DHS shutdown for over a month for no reason at all. This is the same bill the Senate unanimously passed five weeks ago,” Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement. The bill wards off the potential for more missed paychecks to Transportation Security Administration agents, whose lack of pay earlier this year caused long lines at airports throughout the country. TSA staff work at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on March 13, 2025. Annabelle Gordon | AFP | Getty Images It does not include funding for …

Congressional Republicans rally around Trump’s White House ballroom project

Congressional Republicans rally around Trump’s White House ballroom project

Published by Sam Flores

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) talks to reporters after speaking on the floor of the Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images A trio of Senate Republicans on Monday announced they will introduce legislation authorizing $400 million in federal funding to build President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom in the wake of a shooting incident that disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said they were introducing the bill to fund a project that is vital to national security. “Many people I think originally saw it as a vanity project… I don’t see it that way,” Graham said at a press conference on Monday. “I’m convinced if there had been a presidential ballroom adjacent to the White House, the guy would have never gotten in.” Read more CNBC politics coverage The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was cut short on Saturday after an alleged gunman rushed into the hotel where the annual even …

U.S. Senate votes to advance billion funding plan for ICE, Border Patrol

U.S. Senate votes to advance $70 billion funding plan for ICE, Border Patrol

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Senate Republicans voted on Thursday to advance a $70 billion plan ⁠to fund the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agencies for the next three years, ignoring demands from Democrats for guardrails on immigration enforcement agents and their operations. Lawmakers voted 50-48 in the predawn ​hours to adopt the non-binding budget resolution and send it ​to the U.S. House of Representatives, taking a ​crucial step forward in their effort to end a partial shutdown that has gripped the Department of Homeland Security since mid-February. Two Republicans — Senators Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski — opposed the measure. If adopted by the House, the resolution will allow congressional committees to begin filling in the details on how the $70 billion would be spent in separate legislation ⁠that President ‌Donald Trump would have to sign into law. The new funding would be expected to ⁠run through Trump’s presidency, which ends in January 2029. With Democrats adamantly opposed to the funding initiative, Republicans plan to employ a rarely used procedure known as budget reconciliation in the …

Senate Republicans unveil immigration funding framework

Senate Republicans unveil immigration funding framework

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to members of the media as the Trump Cabinet briefs members of Congress on Iran at the U.S. Capitol on March 3, 2026 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images Senate Republicans on Tuesday released the text of a budget resolution to fully fund two controversial immigration enforcement agencies at the heart of the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown through the end of President Donald Trump’s term. The resolution seeks to fund the two DHS divisions — Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection — without having to rely on votes from Democratic senators to do so. Opposition from Democrats to funding ICE and CBP first triggered the partial shutdown of DHS and has kept it going. The Senate could take a preliminary vote on the measure as early as Tuesday afternoon. The resolution, which directs the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Judiciary committees to draft final immigration enforcement bills, sets a cap of $70 billion for each committee. Trump has set a …

GOP leaders boost two-track approach to funding DHS

GOP leaders boost two-track approach to funding DHS

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), joined by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), speaks to members of the media following the Republican Senate Policy Luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on October 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday backed a two-track plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security, paving the way to fund the Transportation Security Administration in the near-term while punting debate over the agency’s more controversial immigration enforcement functions.  The announcement amounts to a reversion back to the bill the Senate passed last week that would have funded all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. Democrats have called for changes to immigration enforcement practices before funding those sub-agencies. Initial DHS funding for most of the department would be followed by a second measure using a Senate procedure known as budget reconciliation for ICE And CBP, the Republican leaders said …

GOP spikes DHS funding plan, extending shutdown

GOP spikes DHS funding plan, extending shutdown

Published by Sam Flores

With an end to the Department of Homeland Security shutdown in sight, House Republicans on Friday bristled at the deal their Senate colleagues sent them overnight, potentially imperiling the funding bill and threatening to extend the shutdown that’s led to worsening airport delays. The Senate early Friday morning advanced a bill to fund most of DHS, except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection, in a move to end the partial government shutdown that has disrupted air travel across the U.S., as Transportation Security Administration agents go without paychecks and miss work. That bill immediately met resistance in the House. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La, on Friday afternoon confirmed a plan to ditch the Senate proposal and instead try to pass a stopgap funding bill for all of DHS through May 22. The stopgap measures advanced out of the House Rules Committee on Friday, teeing up a vote as soon as later this evening. “This gambit that was done last night is a joke,” Johnson told reporters. “The Senate Democrats have …

Senate, White House nearing deal to end DHS shutdown

Senate, White House nearing deal to end DHS shutdown

Published by Sam Flores

San Diego, CA – March 23: Travelers stand in a long Transportation Security Administration line that wrapped throughout Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport in California, March 23, 2026. K.C. Alfred | The San Diego Union | Getty Images Senate Republicans and the White House appear near to a deal to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdown as the shutdown’s second month leads to worsening airport delays. Talks are still underway, but “this deal seems to be acceptable,” a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity said Tuesday. President Donald Trump has said he wants to not only fund DHS but include other changes such as prohibitions on transgender care and a voter-ID measure. Democrats, however, say they’re not satisfied with the Republicans’ proposal. At a swearing-in ceremony for Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Tuesday, Trump said he would “take a good hard look” at the compromise funding proposal. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said at a press conference Tuesday that “Democrats have …

Trump hints U.S. will turn to Cuba after Iran: ‘A question of time’

Trump hints U.S. will turn to Cuba after Iran: ‘A question of time’

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump speaks during an event celebrating 2025 MLS Cup champions Inter Miami CF in the East Room of the White House on March 5, 2026. Win McNamee | Getty Images President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested his administration will turn its sights to Cuba after U.S. military operations in Iran are finished. “What’s happening with Cuba is amazing,” Trump said at the White House while participating in a visit of Inter Miami CF, the 2025 Major League Soccer champions. “We think that we want to fix — finish this one first, but that will be just a question of time before you and a lot of unbelievable people are going to be going back to Cuba, hopefully not to stay,” Trump said to the Miami-heavy audience that included people of Cuban heritage. The comments show Trump, less than a week into an escalating military conflict in the Middle East, is considering another major foreign policy move. “We want you back, and we don’t want to lose you. We don’t want to make it …