ICE and War Funding Can Now Become the Latest Excuse to Gut the Social Safety Net

Congressional Republicans have been musing about the possibility of a second reconciliation package for some time now. The conversations picked up recently after Senate Republicans tried to convince President Donald Trump to drop his objections on a possible Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding deal, promising the president that they will pass the SAVE America Act through the reconciliation process — as a way to circumvent the filibuster.

So far, Republicans have said they want to include funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — and possibly even all of DHS — the Department of Defense (DoD) and Trump’s war in Iran in a new reconciliation package. There is also talk of trying to cram the SAVE America Act, or parts of it, into a potential reconciliation package, in order to appease Trump and far-right supporters of the voter suppression bill — though some are not convinced that is possible. Including the bill that requires documentary proof of citizenship in reconciliation will be a tall order as every single provision going into a reconciliation bill must be directly related to the budget and has to comply with strict budget rules.