The US Senate handed President Donald Trump a victory early on Friday, passing a bill that would provide the Department of Homeland Security with an additional US$70 billion for immigration enforcement and sending it to the House of Representatives for final consideration.

The Senate voted 52-47 to approve the legislation, with no support from Democrats.

One Republican voted against the bill.

Republicans accused Democrats of "defunding" Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, despite the agencies having a combined US$100 billion in unspent funds that was part of a larger DHS spending package enacted last year by Republicans.

The House is not expected to take up the measure before next week, according to Republican leaders.

Much of Thursday's long debate over the bill was overshadowed by efforts from Democrats, and some Republicans, to insert language unrelated to immigration.

Those proposals revolved around prohibiting the use of federal funds and even private donations for building the lavish, 8,360-square-metre ballroom on White House grounds that Trump wants.

Senators also debated provisions making it illegal for federal dollars to be used for an "anti-weaponisation" fund that could compensate Trump's political allies for allegations that the government mistreated them.

None of those amendments were approved.

The funding provided by the bill would help pay for Trump's controversial migrant deportation crackdown over the next three years and augment about US$100 billion in unspent Department of Homeland Security law enforcement money enacted last year by Republicans, who control Congress.

Lawmakers began voting on amendments to the immigration bill in a "vote-a-rama" session early on Thursday that culminated in the vote on the underlying measure in the early hours of Friday.

An initial move by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to kill the "anti-weaponisation" fund, which Democrats call a "slush fund" for Trump's allies, brought the session to a largely procedural halt for hours after Republican Senator Susan Collins voted for the motion.

She was later joined by fellow Republicans Jon Husted and Dan Sullivan.

Schumer's measure failed in a 50-49 vote, but exposed the political turmoil among rank-and-file Senate Republicans.

Some of them sought their own amendments to eliminate the fund permanently, five months before the November midterm elections.

"Republicans refused to permanently outlaw Trump’s US$2 billion slush fund, leaving taxpayers to rely on nothing more than a promise from Donald Trump’s personal fixer," Schumer said in a statement after the vote, referring to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

"That is not accountability. That is a permission slip." (Reuters)


Edited by Tony Sabine