Every Democrat Senator plus all three independents that caucus with Democrats voted against an amendment Friday night that would have barred the use of taxpayer funds to fly illegal immigrants to U.S. towns away from the border with Mexico, according to Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN).
“Tonight every single Senate Democrat voted against my amendment that would stop Biden Admin from using taxpayer dollars to charter flights for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from their countries directly to American towns to be resettled,” Hagerty posted on social media platform X after the vote.
“Indefensible,” he added.
Hagerty had announced days before the vote that he would file the amendment, which his office said would “prohibit federal funds from being used to secretly fly illegal aliens from other nations directly into states across the country,” according to a press release.
The Biden administration reportedly flew around 320,000 illegal immigrants from their home countries to the United States in 2023.
“Let me cut through the procedural language here. I’m bringing forward a vote on a very simple question: Do you support American taxpayer dollars being used to fly illegal aliens into the United States from places like Venezuela and Haiti, into America to be settled in towns and cities near you? If so, then vote against me. Vote ‘no’ to preserve the practice of using taxpayer dollars to charter planes that move and import thousands of illegal aliens into your states,” Hagerty said Friday on the floor of the Senate.
All Republican senators present voted for the amendment.
The amendment was added to the $1.2 trillion government funding bill on Friday.
“Let me explain what’s happening right now,” Hagerty posted on X before the vote on the amendment and full bill. “Democrat Senators are afraid to take a position on Biden’s failed policies by voting on amendments to the appropriations bill. They’d rather shut down the government than take a position on President Biden’s failures.”
The funding bill was later passed 74-24 to avert a partial government shutdown. President Joe Biden signed the bill on Saturday.
The bill funds the government through the end of the fiscal year on September 3.
For the first six months of the fiscal year, the government was funded with stopgap measures that could have led to a shutdown several times.
No Republican-backed amendments to the bill passed. If any amendment had passed, the bill would have had to go back to the House, which is in the middle of a two-week recess, for review.
Among replies to Hagerty’s tweet, Elon Musk tweeted, “Insane!”
Hagerty continued the thread by saying, “That’s why Chuck Schumer scheduled this vote in the middle of the night (on Friday). He did the same two weeks ago on my vote to stop illegals from being counted in the census. They are trying to hide it.”
The spending package included a raise for military members but failed to include further aid to Ukraine or Israel, both of which are fighting conflicts close to home.
Republican hardliners in the House were unhappy with the bill’s passing there and threatened to take action to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over the bipartisan maneuvering that helped it pass 286-134 in the House.
Rep. Marjorie Taylore Greene (R-GA) said she had filed a motion to vacate Johnson’s leadership after the vote but admitted it was “more of a warning” than a move to get rid of him at this juncture.
Johnson has only been speaker since October, when the previous speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted by some of the same hardliners.
