WASHINGTON — The budget package Senate Republicans unveiled late Monday to fund federal immigration enforcement and President Donald Trump’s proposed White House ballroom will increase deficits by nearly $72 billion over the next 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
CBO Estimate Reveals Deficit Impact
The CBO issued its estimate a day after the GOP released a spending package stuffed with tens of billions of dollars for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, billions more for Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement and an astounding $1 billion for Trump’s ballroom plan, a vanity project he wants to build in place of the former East Wing, which he demolished last year.
The $72 billion estimate mirrors the level of spending in the Republican package. The amount added to the deficit jumps to about $94 billion when you factor in interest, says the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. In its analysis of the GOP package, CRFB notes the legislation’s “lack of guardrails” over when this money is appropriated, which could mean billions of dollars in taxpayer money is spent more quickly than anticipated by agencies like ICE or CBP, which would create a demand for still more money.
Concerns Over Spending Oversight
“Of further concern,” CRFB states, “at least $7.5 billion of the total … appears to be above and beyond normal appropriations.” It points to the package’s $5 billion for DHS to use at its discretion, $1.5 billion for the attorney general to use at his discretion and the $1 billion set aside for the Secret Service to use for vague security measures related to Trump’s ballroom project.
ICE and CBP are already flush with money, thanks to last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Republican leaders are aiming to put the spending package on the Senate floor during the week of May 18. The GOP is moving the bill via a special, expedited process known as budget reconciliation, which allows Republicans to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold and pass a bill with 51 votes, meaning they are cutting Democrats out of the process.
Byrd Rule and Democratic Scrutiny
Any legislation that moves through the Senate reconciliation process must affect spending, revenue and the debt limit, however, and Democrats are vowing to pore over the GOP package looking for provisions that violate this requirement, known as the Byrd Rule. The president has given Republicans until June 1 to send him an immigration enforcement funding bill, an arbitrary date they are trying to stick to.
His demand comes after a monthslong partisan standoff in Congress over funding DHS. Democrats have refused to approve any new funding for ICE and CBP without tying it to basic accountability reforms aimed at curbing abuses by federal agents. Republicans have refused to make a deal, so DHS went partially unfunded for months. Last week, Trump signed a bill that funds most of DHS, except for ICE and CBP.
Both of these agencies are already flush with money, thanks to the GOP giving them tens of billions of dollars in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill. But immigration enforcement is one of Trump’s priorities, and the GOP is eager to prove it can deliver him still more money for it.
