Good stuff from Sen. Tim Kaine:
KAINE UNVEILS AMENDMENTS TO REPUBLICAN BUDGET RESOLUTION
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, unveiled his amendments to Senate Republicans’ budget resolution in an effort to improve the partisan megabill, which the Trump-Vance Administration is using to end-run regular order for funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“Democrats have been advocating for common-sense guardrails for ICE and CBP to protect our communities, particularly in the wake of the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by ICE and CBP agents. But instead of negotiating, Republicans are shoehorning funding for ICE and CBP into a partisan budget reconciliation process—the same process they used last year to fund massive tax breaks for the uber-wealthy. I’m filing amendments to this legislation to add important public safety and law enforcement standards and help fix our broken legal immigration system. These include making ICE and CBP agents abide by the many of the same professional standards as local cops, getting our legal immigration backlog unstuck, providing automatic tariff refunds, and conclusively blocking President Trump’s IRS settlement slush fund.”
Kaine’s amendments would:
- Provide automatic and full refunds for Trump’s illegal broad-based tariffs, which the Supreme Court struck down.
- Instead of adding unnecessary funding for ICE, redirecting some of those funds to close the Pell Grant shortfall and ensure that student aid is not restricted or cut.
- Conclusively prohibit implementation of the recent settlement agreement that establishes the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund, a $1.776 billion slush fund that Trump intends to use to financially reward political allies for lawless behavior.
- Lower prescription drug costs.
- Prohibit Trump’s family—and the families of all past and future Presidents—from being granted lifetime immunity from IRS audits.
- Prevent the funding of Trump’s slush fund and instead use that money to help Americans access health care and to lower costs, including:
- Funding to support rural health, in the wake of numerous health institutions facing the danger of closing after the cuts in the first Republican reconciliation bill;
- Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), to help mitigate the harmful effects of the cuts from the first Republican reconciliation bill;
- Funding to support low-income Americans trying to afford home energy bills, as Americans struggle with higher energy prices driven by the President’s tariffs and Iran war;
- Helping veterans afford rent; and
- Supporting working parents trying to pay for child care.
- Redirect ICE funding to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to be used to eliminate the backlog of legal immigration applications and petitions that have accumulated during Trump’s second term in office.
- Require ICE and CBP to inform and deconflict with state and local law enforcement agencies when conducting large-scale immigration enforcement operations.
- Prevent ICE and CBP from entering homes without judicial warrants.
- Require ICE and Border Patrol to respond timely to inquiries about the location of people they are detaining.
- Require the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women to distribute approximately $150 million in so-far-undistributed Fiscal Year 2025 grants.
Kaine is also a cosponsor of an amendment filed by U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA) that would prohibit ICE and CBP agents from using masks or face coverings and require such agents to identify themselves. Kaine and Warner introduced legislation to this effect last year and have been vocally pressing DHS to require that ICE and Border Patrol agents remain unmasked and identify themselves.
UPDATE: See below for video of Sen. Tim Kaine’s press availability.
