Senators as soon as tonight will start a marathon series of amendment votes on Republicans’ $72 billion budget reconciliation bill.

Senate panels are halfway through the procedural steps they need to take before the rest of the chamber can weigh in on a package of mandatory spending President Donald Trump wants on his desk by June 1.

The primary focus of the bill is replacing annual funding for ICE and Border Patrol that expired in February,. But lawmakers are also wrangling over another $1 billion for the Secret Service that is partially aimed at funding security costs of President Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom in the East Wing.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs met yesterday morning to advance the half of the package in their jurisdiction after batting down a flurry of amendments from Democrats that would have changed ICE policy and address the cost of living crisis.

Now it’s the Senate Budget Committee’s turn, which will meet this morning to send the homeland panel’s legislation to the floor. Democrats won’t be able to offer amendments there, so the meeting should be relatively quick.

The Judiciary Committee’s portion will be folded in on the floor, according to Senate Republican aides. The budget panel can’t take up that title since Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) didn’t schedule a markup. That gives Republicans a few more hours to iron out changes in that portion.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) told reporters to “stay tuned” for the next round of rulings from the Senate parliamentarian after Senate Republicans finalize new text to comply with reconciliation rules.

After senators get on the bill, they’ll get a maximum of 20 hours of debate evenly divided between the two parties. If senators forfeit that time, a vote-a-rama could start as soon as this evening and run overnight.

That tees up consideration in the House, where Republican leadership is warning its members that they’ll have to stay in town for possible votes late on Friday evening.

The House Rules Committee is already preparing to do a quick turnaround later in the week. That panel gave itself authority to report out a rule later in the a week that can be brought to the floor the same day.

The fate of the ballroom hangs in the balance. GOP senators are coming out against including that money in the package, including Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.), who both won’t be on the ballot in November after Trump lambasted them.

The pushback within the party pits the White House against key corners of the majority.

• “We’ll have to see what comes back out,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), an appropriator in leadership, said of the Secret Service funding. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it changes.”

Also Read: Trump Says Ballroom to Include Military Hospital, Research Site

— With assistance from Rachel Schilke

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies at yesterday’s Senate Appropriations subcommittee

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Department of Justice’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” before Senate appropriators yesterday as the fund faces significant bipartisan skepticism.

Blanche acknowledged the fund was unusual but claimed it was not unprecedented, pointing to an Obama-era fund for Native Americans— though Senate Democrats noted the Obama-era initiative was signed off by a judge.

The new fund is meant to go out to victims of alleged weaponization of the federal government, which its critics have noted could include pardoned Jan. 6 rioters and Trump’s close allies. Blanche declined to commit in questioning that the fund wouldn’t be paid out to Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted police officers or Trump’s campaign donors.

Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called on Congress to block the fund in any possible way, which includes the appropriations process.

• “Enough is enough. Republicans need to join us to block Trump’s MAGA slush fund however possible, and I’ll be pushing to get this done as the Senate drafts funding bills this summer,” Murray said in a statement yesterday.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee, said yesterday Democrats were “looking at everything we can” to address the fund.

The outrage risks stalling the Commerce-Justice-Science bill. which also got held up last year over the relocation of the FBI headquarters. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), chair of the bill’s subcommittee, said senators are “trying to sort” out how to address the fund.

Moran said the fund falls under the Senate Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction, but he still expected Democrats to offer amendments related to the fund.

• “We’ll have amendments I’m sure. We’ll see if we can work our way through them as we have done in the past,” Moran said of the fund and the eventual mark up of the bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters yesterday he’s not a “big fan” of the fund and he expected the upcoming appropriations process to give it a “full vetting.”

• “Not a big fan. I’m not sure exactly how they intend to use it,” Thune said. “I don’t see a purpose for that.”

Appropriators should carefully review instances where the Trump administration is not carrying out spending laws as written and consider guardrails on packages for the next fiscal year to counter it, 44 groups wrote to lawmakers.

• “These protections should be provided broadly— to as many programs as possible —to prevent against Executive Branch overreach,” the Clean Budget Coalition wrote in an open letter to members of Congress published yesterday. “The American people expect Congress to defend its constitutional authority over federal spending and to ensure that federal agencies carry out funding decisions as written.”

Signatories include groups that advocate for organized labor, environmental protection, consumer protection, health and reproductive rights, housing, civil rights, families, and animal welfare.

The letter points to committee hearings and markups as prime opportunities to pursue those mandates on the Trump administration, which it accused of withholding funds on financial institutions in underbanked areas and education research.

Tuesday’s Hill Watch Live unpacked the federal, state, and local debates about data centers, which are key to the AI boom but are generating concerns about energy costs and environmental impacts.

Legislative and Policy Editor Karl Evers-Hillstrom, State Policy Analyst Claire Hebert, and Technology Policy Reporter Oma Seddiq offered background about the debate and moves by the White House, Congress, and legislatures around the country.

Download the slides and learn more about the session here. Visit the BGOV Hill Watch Live hub for a replay and more about the series.

The leaders of a bipartisan Senate caucus dedicated to combatting antisemitism endorsed tripling the size of a grant program aimed at helping faith-based organizations harden their buildings.

Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced legislation that would authorize $1 billion annually for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

Rosen, a former synagogue president, and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) appeared alongside Jewish community leaders at the Capitol yesterday to join their call for those funding targets, which they say is necessary to handle the financial strain of security at a time of rising hate crimes.

It’s unclear that appropriators would go along with that sizable of a request. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), who chairs the spending panel with oversight of the grant program, supports the program and plans to ensure it gets the funds it needs, according to her office.

• “I’ve always been supportive of an increase,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the running member on Britt’s panel who proposed an increase to $500 million three years ago.