Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized Senate Democrats on Tuesday for pushing Republicans into a reconciliation process to fund immigration agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“The process Democrats have forced us into is an imperfect one,” Paul, the chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said during opening remarks of a markup of the $72 billion bill.

“One consequence of using this process is we cannot include policy changes, even the widely supported reforms agreed to by the president to address real problems exposed earlier this year,” he continued, adding that Democrats “have no one to blame but themselves.”

That reconciliation process enables Senate Republicans to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol through 2029 with a simple majority, bypassing the 60-vote threshold required to overcome a filibuster.

Democrats repeatedly stonewalled DHS funding bills over demands to rein in agents helping to execute President Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown, paving the way for a record-long shutdown that ended on May 1.

During the nearly three-hour markup on Tuesday, Senate Democrats introduced dozens of amendments that echoed many of the reforms they’ve been seeking for months, including requiring ICE agents to clearly identify themselves during enforcement operations, expanding judicial warrant requirements and a ban on DHS officers entering houses of worship.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the ranking member on the committee, said he was “disappointed” not to see some of those reforms included in the legislative text despite what he called “real concern” from members of both parties during a February oversight hearing.

“In fact, we are doing this whole irresponsible and hyper-partisan spending exercise because the Republican majority does not want to pass common sense reforms that would rein in ICE and hold agencies accountable,” Peters said.

Each of the Democrat-led amendments was tabled in an 8-7 vote, along party lines. Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) voted by proxy.

Paul urged his GOP colleagues to oppose each amendment as they were introduced, saying he had been advised by the budget committee that they didn’t comply with Senate rules against “extraneous” policy provisions in reconciliation bills.

“I, for one, support a lot of reforms and wish we had gone down the bipartisan road to reforms, but the rules are the rules,” Paul said. “You can’t put policy on appropriation bills; you can’t put policy on a reconciliation bill.”

“So, as much as I’d like to be for the reforms, y’all gave up. You just gave up and said, ‘We’re not going to fund ICE.’ When y’all made that decision, the negotiations ended, and all hope for reform ended.”

Several Democrats objected, with Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) arguing the Byrd Rule did not apply in this case. Peters also accused his GOP counterparts of “hiding behind procedural excuses.”

“I believe they think this insulates them, and they can fool the American people by playing some sort of procedural game,” he said, slamming his Republican colleagues for “racing to meet the president’s arbitrary June 1 deadline.”

GOP lawmakers are working to fine-tune the bill’s language after Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled last week that several elements of the package failed to comply with the Byrd Rule and could not be included, as drafted.

Though not a provision in the reconciliation bill, Democratic lawmakers also took the markup as an opportunity to criticize the Trump administration’s plan to establish a $1.176 billion, taxpayer-financed compensation fund for individuals who claim the federal government wronged them.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced an amendment that would’ve created a fund of the same amount for DHS victims, including any “United States citizens who were injured or killed by any DHS law enforcement officer or other immigration officer,” among others.

“The injuries and death cry out for justice,” he said. “Instead of devoting $1.8 billion to a slush fund illegally, I urge this committee to take action legally to take care of people who suffered at the hands of their own government through no fault of their own and who’ve been attacked by ICE or other agents of the government.”

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