Senate Passes $4.6 Billion Border-Funding Bill after Rejecting Pelosi’s Version

The Senate on Wednesday passed a $4.6 billion spending package to alleviate the ongoing crisis at the southern border, just moments after rejecting a similar emergency-funding bill advanced by House Democrats that included restrictions on the funding of certain border-enforcement measures. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who shepherded the more restrictive spending bill through the House on Tuesday, announced her caucus’s opposition to the Senate bill before it was voted on, ensuring a contentious reconciliation process between the two chambers before a final bill can be sent to President Trump’s desk. “They pass their bill, we respect that,” Pelosi said Wednesday. “We passed our bill, we hope they would respect that. And there are some improvements that we think can be reconciled.” Republican lawmakers have emphasized the urgency of the border crisis in asking their Democratic colleagues to avoid a protracted reconciliation process by passing the Senate spending bill immediately, before lawmakers leave town for the one-week July 4 recess...MORE