July 1st, 2025.

Just afternoon today, the Senate passed its version of the Budget Reconciliation Bill.

All Democrats and independents voted no.

Three Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Tom Tillis of North Carolina, joined the Democrats in voting no. That left the bill at 50-50. Vice President J.D. Vance cast the deciding vote, pushing the measure through the Senate and sending it back

to the House to vote on the changes made by the Senate. From the Reporters' gallery above the

floor, CNN's Sarah Ferris, heard Senator Angus King, an independent of Maine, yelled to his Republican

colleagues, shame on you guys. That was the most disgusting vote I've ever seen in my life.

The measure cuts taxes for the wealthy in corporations and offsets those cuts in part by slashing Medicaid and food security programs for low-income Americans.

But there is at least one aspect of American life on which the and food security programs for low-income Americans.

But there is at least one aspect of American life on which the bill is lavishing money.

While the measure slashes public welfare programs, it pours $170.7 billion into immigration enforcement.

The American Immigration Council broke out the numbers today.

The Senate bill provides $51.6 billion to build a wall on the border, more than three

times what Trump spent on the wall in his first term.

It provides $45 billion for detention facilities for immigration

and customs enforcement, an increase of 265 percent in ICE's annual detention budget. It provides

$29.9 billion for ICE enforcement, a threefold increase in ICE's annual budget. When Trump talks

about undocumented migrants as being dangerous criminals, he appears to have bought into the fantasy

that the U.S. is a hellscape. In fact, about 8% of arrested migrants have been convicted of violent crimes.

The administration defines anyone who breaks immigration law, which is a misdemeanor, not a felony, as a criminal.

One of the reasons for the push to get the bill passed before July 4th is that the Department of Homeland Security has blown

through its budget and needs the bill's additional funding to operate. While the Senate considered

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