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Senate Republicans Spark Outrage With $10 Billion Hike In ICE Spending

Republicans in the US Senate indicated Sunday that they planned to move ahead this week with government funding legislation that includes $10 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a federal agent gunned down intensive-care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a killing captured on video from multiple angles.

“My support for funding ICE remains the same,” declared Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), a sentiment echoed by other GOP lawmakers ahead of votes on a package of six government appropriations bills approved by the House last week.

“We’re not defunding ICE,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) after the horrific shooting of Pretti. “Live with it.”

An unnamed Senate Republican aide told Punchbowl that “government funding expires at the end of the week, and Republicans are determined to not have another government shutdown. We will move forward as planned and hope Democrats can find a path forward to join us.”

One of the bills up for consideration in the Senate this week would provide $64.4 billion in taxpayer money to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including $10 billion for ICE—an agency that is already more heavily funded than many national militaries. Last summer, congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump approved $170 billion in new funding for immigration enforcement, which ICE has used to massively jack up weapons spending.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reportedly has the votes from his caucus to block the DHS funding bill.

Senate Democrats have proposed separating the DHS legislation from the rest of the appropriations bills to avoid a looming January 30 shutdown and debate ICE reforms. The American Prospect‘s David Dayen reported late Sunday that Democrats are “going to ask for real investigations into the murders (including an end to impeding the state/local investigations)” as well as an end to arrest quotas and mask-wearing by ICE agents.

“Federal agents cannot murder people in broad daylight and face zero consequences,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the Democrats’ top appropriator in the Senate. “I will NOT support the DHS bill as it stands. The DHS bill needs to be split off from the larger funding package before the Senate—Republicans must work with us to do that. I will continue fighting to rein in DHS and ICE.”

Murray also stressed that “blocking the DHS funding bill will not shut down ICE.”

“ICE is now sitting on a massive slush fund it can tap, whether or not we pass a funding bill,” the senator added. “But we all saw another American shot and killed in broad daylight. There must be accountability, and we must keep pushing Republicans to work with us to rein in DHS.”

“The Senate must immediately take out any additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the current spending bill. Congressional Republicans must answer for these killings.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the top Republican appropriator, did not mention ICE funding in her statement on Pretti’s killing, saying only that “this tragic shooting needs to be thoroughly and transparently investigated.”

Assuming unified support from their caucus, Senate Republicans need at least seven Democratic votes to pass the funding package with DHS appropriations included. Last week, seven House Democrats voted with Republicans to approve the DHS funding.

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, said in a statement that “this federal enforcement agency is running rampant with an outrageous budget that dwarfs most countries’ militaries.”

“The Department of Homeland Security must get ICE off our streets now, and the Senate must immediately take out any additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the current spending bill,” said Gilbert. “Congressional Republicans must answer for these killings.”

Amy Fischer, Amnesty International USA’s director for refugee and migrant rights, asked, “How many more people must die before US leaders act?”

“The US Senate faces an urgent choice in the coming days: continue pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into a lawless agency that endangers lives with impunity, or take meaningful action to rein in ICE and stop funding its abuses,” said Fischer.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Senate Enrages Trump With Vote To Restrain Military Force In Venezuela

The GOP-controlled Senate delivered a rare public rebuke to President Donald Trump on Thursday, advancing a bipartisan resolution that would block him from using military force in Venezuela without congressional approval.

The vote comes less than a week after Trump stunned Congress and the nation by ordering a raid to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He and his wife, Cilia Flores, are now facing criminal prosecution in New York. The White House has not ruled out further actions, a prospect that has raised alarm among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Five Senate Republicans—Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Todd Young of Indiana—joined all 47 Democrats in voting in favor of the resolution.

Young and Hawley were the surprise defections, siding with Paul, who has long criticized Trump’s foreign adventures. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania also voted with his caucus, though CNN reports that he refused to explain why afterward.

Predictably, Trump reacted with fury, accusing the GOP senators of betraying national security and the Republican Party.

“Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again,” he wrote on Truth Social, claiming that they voted to “take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America.”

Before the vote, Republican leaders tried and failed to block the resolution, hoping to preserve Trump’s unilateral authority. Trump has signaled a potential second wave of attacks on Venezuela, claiming that the United States will “run” the country after last week’s raid.

Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia—who led the resolution alongside Paul—and Adam Schiff of California and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York framed the measure as a defense of the Constitution.

“Instead of responding to Americans’ concerns about the affordability crisis, President Trump started a war with Venezuela that is profoundly disrespectful to U.S. troops, deeply unpopular, suspiciously secretive, and likely corrupt,” Kaine said. “Trump’s war is also clearly illegal because this military action was ordered without the congressional authorization the Constitution requires.”

The procedural vote sets up a full Senate vote next week, which is expected to pass. Even though the measure would still need House approval and Trump’s signature to become law, it sends a clear message: Trump can’t act entirely on his own, even in a deeply divided chamber.

“To my Senate colleagues: Enough is enough,” Kaine said. “No war without a debate and vote in Congress.”

The raid, carried out over the weekend by Delta Force commandos, killed more than 100 people and broke with decades of congressional notification norms. Lawmakers have been alarmed by Trump’s pattern of unilateral military action, which might now extend beyond Venezuela—to Cuba, Colombia, and maybe even Greenland.

Collins said that the resolution was necessary to rein in a president who has been openly contemplating “boots on the ground” in Venezuela, and Murkowski emphasized the role of Congress as laid out in Article I of the Constitution. Similarly, Paul framed it as a constitutional debate: Who has the power to commit the United States to war?

“Make no mistake: Bombing another nation’s capital and removing their president is an act of war, plain and simple,” he said.

While largely symbolic, Thursday’s vote is a rare bipartisan check on Trump, signaling that even in a polarized Senate, some lawmakers are willing to challenge his lawlessness.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Gallup Poll: Public Satisfaction With Health Care Costs Hits New Low

Public satisfaction with the cost of health care plans has hit a record low in a new Gallup poll released Monday—just as GOP legislation begins to go into effect, increasing costs for millions.

The poll found that just 16 percent of respondents are satisfied with the costs of health care—the lowest recorded number in the 24 years that the pollsters have asked the question. In fact, 29 percent of respondents said that cost is the “most urgent national health problem,” followed by access to care at 17% and obesity at eight percent.

Following the passage of President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” Affordable Care Act subsidies are set to expire at the start of 2026, effectively raising the cost of health care for millions. And KFF estimates that, for people with marketplace plans, premiums will double if the credits expire.

No Democrats voted for the bill in the House or Senate.

Respondents who answered "Don't know" are excluded.Chart: Andrew ManganSource: KFF Health Tracking PollCreated with Datawrapper

...

Republicans have also opposed legislative attempts to fix the premium problem before the new year.

On December 11, Senate Republicans opposed a Democratic bill that would have added a three-year premium extension, meant as a stopgap until further congressional action. The proposal was filibustered by the party majority with a vote of 51-48 preventing further debate.

The defeat of the bill falls in line with decades of GOP opposition to health care reform. The party has spent more than a decade trying to repeal the ACA and has failed to offer a serious alternative.

At the same time, Trump has argued that the issue of affordability—which includes concerns about health care costs—is a hoax invented by Democrats. This is not true, and—as polls are showing us—Americans know it.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

GOP Budget Hurts Her Maine Constituents, But Collins Is Still Taking A Victory Lap

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) touts her role in ending the government shutdown, even though the final bill did not include any of her legislative priorities.

Collins leads the Senate Appropriations Committee that crafted the continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government. She is the only Senate Republican to endorse extending Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies and reining in President Donald Trump’s spending cuts, but the CR did not include these provisions, and Collins did not vote with Democrats who were pushing to add them.

“I was responsible for not only putting the bill together, but also managing it on the Senate floor,” Collins said in a November 18 radio interview. “Dealing with proposals to change it, negotiating not only with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but also with the House of Representatives and the administration.”

The 43-day shutdown was the longest in American history. It began on October 1 when Democrats in Congress refused to back any funding bill that did not meet an array of demands, including the extension of Obamacare subsidies that help 65,000 of Collins' Maine constituents afford health care.

Democrats also demanded the Trump administration be blocked from withholding any funding that was already approved by Congress. Since January, the White House has rescinded billions in appropriated funds, including $323,000 to study rural health care access in Maine.

Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut told NOTUS that there was a bipartisan proposal to block future rescissions and that she personally lobbied Collins and others on the Appropriations Committee to include it in the CR. The proposal never saw the light of day.

The CR did, however, include a provision that would have allowed Senate Republicans to sue the Justice Department for $500,000 if their phone records were seized during the investigation of the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Roll Call reported that Collins personally added the provision at the behest of South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the Republican majority leader.

A bipartisan vote in the House stripped the provision from the final CR on November 19.

Collins is considered the most vulnerable Senate Republican facing reelection next year.

Reprinted with permission from American Journal News

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Smart. Sharp. Funny. Fearless

Senate Republicans Spark Outrage With $10 Billion Hike In ICE Spending

Senate Enrages Trump With Vote To Restrain Military Force In Venezuela

Gallup Poll: Public Satisfaction With Health Care Costs Hits New Low

GOP Budget Hurts Her Maine Constituents, But Collins Is Still Taking A Victory Lap

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