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Senate Judiciary releases mega-bill text to bolster immigration enforcement, rein in judges
But the panel’s proposal is missing legislation sought by conservatives to give Congress the power to approve or reject agency rules.
Hailey Fuchs
06/12/2025, 11:25pm ET
Senate Judiciary chair Chuck Grassley late Thursday released his committee’s proposals for the massive tax and spending package central to achieving President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, which would include a host of new fees for immigration applicants and tens of billions in funding for ICE.
Grassley’s text notably does not include a provision included in the House Judiciary Committee’s original proposal that was similar to the so-called REINS Act, legislation that would require Congressional approval for some new federal regulations. Concern was already mounting among some Republicans that the provision — a longtime conservative priority — could complicate the bill’s fate under strict Senate rules governing the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process, and the House ultimately stripped the original language from the bill that passed the chamber last month.
Republicans might still be working, however, on alternate language to present to the Senate parliamentarian that would give the legislative branch more power to greenlight or reject executive branch rulemaking.
Among the new immigration fees, the Senate Judiciary bill would include a minimum $1,000 fee for potential asylees, which was also included in the House-passed bill. The panel’s text also would allocate about $30 billion for ICE, $5 billion for the Bureau of Prisons, and about $1 billion for the Secret Service, in the wake of two assassination attempts against Trump while he was a candidate for a second term in office.
“The Senate Judiciary Committee’s portion of the One Big Beautiful Bill provides essential resources that will shore up our border and immigration system for generations to come,” Grassley said in a statement.
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