Jeffries Snaps After Senate Delivers Major Win for Trump’s Border Agenda
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is finding himself in an increasingly difficult position as Republicans continue stacking victories on border security and immigration enforcement.
Just days after the Senate demonstrated majority support for the SAVE America Act, Republicans delivered another major win for President Donald Trump.
Lawmakers have passed a massive $70 billion funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Border Patrol, and the Department of Homeland Security.
The legislation cleared the Senate early Friday morning by a vote of 52-47 after an all-night legislative battle that stretched nearly 18 hours.
The bill would provide roughly $38.6 billion for ICE, $22.6 billion for Border Patrol, and another $5 billion for DHS operations, effectively funding Trump’s border enforcement agenda through 2029.
The vote represents one funding package for immigration enforcementding packages in recent history and gives the administration a clear path toward expanding deportation operations, detention capacity, and border security infrastructure over the next several years.
Jeffries reacted furiously following the vote.
“The appointment of Bill Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence is another indication of how unserious, reckless, and dangerous Donald Trump and his administration are with respect to the national security of the American people,” Jeffries said earlier this week while criticizing a separate Trump administration decision.
Democrats have increasingly broadened those attacks as Trump’s immigration agenda continues gaining momentum in Congress.
The Senate vote itself came despite repeated Democratic efforts to derail the legislation.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted Republicans after the bill passed, accusing them of prioritizing Trump’s agenda over Democratic spending priorities.
“Tonight, Senate Republicans passed a rotten bill that makes their priorities painfully clear: more money for Donald Trump, more power for Donald Trump, and nothing to lower costs for working families,” Schumer said.
He went even further, claiming Republicans had approved funding for what he described as “Trump’s personal police force.”
Republicans rejected those arguments.
Supporters of the legislation noted that the funding specifically targets federal agencies responsible for enforcing immigration law and securing the nation’s borders.
The vote also highlights a growing problem for Democrats heading into the 2026 midterms.
Immigration consistently ranks among the strongest issues for Republicans in national polling, and the Trump administration has made border security a centerpiece of its second-term agenda.
Now Republicans can point to concrete legislative victories.
The funding package would provide resources for increased enforcement operations, additional personnel, expanded detention capacity, transportation assets, and technology upgrades designed to support the administration’s immigration priorities.
Just as importantly, the vote demonstrated that Republicans remain largely unified on the issue.
Only Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska broke ranks and voted against the legislation.
The victory comes only days after another major Senate vote involving election integrity.
Earlier this week, the SAVE America Act received 50 votes in the Senate, demonstrating majority support for requiring proof of citizenship for federal voter registration.
Although Senate procedural rules continue to block that legislation, Republicans argue the vote proved the policy has majority support in the chamber.
Taken together, the two votes illustrate why Democrats are becoming increasingly frustrated.
On immigration, Republicans are successfully advancing legislation.
Republicans have shown that they can secure majority support when it comes to election integrity.
And on both issues, Democrats remain almost uniformly opposed.
The border funding package now heads to the House of Representatives, where Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated lawmakers could move quickly to approve it.
If that happens, President Trump will receive one of the most significant legislative victories of his second term.
For Republicans, the message is simple: fully fund ICE, fully fund Border Patrol, secure the border, and continue pushing for election integrity reforms.
For Democrats and Hakeem Jeffries, the challenge is becoming increasingly difficult.
The political debate is no longer about whether Trump’s border agenda can advance.
It’s about how much of it Republicans can accomplish before voters head to the polls in November.
Trump Admin Says It Uncovered $10 Billion Obamacare Fraud Scheme
The Trump administration says it has uncovered what it describes as a massive fraud scheme within the Affordable Care Act.
Members of Trump’s administration allege that roughly $10 billion in taxpayer money was improperly paid out between 2021 and 2024 because of weakened enrollment safeguards under former President Joe Biden.
According to a Department of Health and Human Services report, officials have already removed nearly three million fraudulent or improper Obamacare enrollments and estimate another 2.6 million questionable enrollments remain.
Administration officials say the findings are part of a broader government-wide effort to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse across federal programs.
The report traces the alleged problems to changes made during the Biden administration that expanded enrollment opportunities while relaxing income verification and eligibility checks.
At the start of Biden’s presidency, approximately 10 million people were enrolled through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. By 2024, enrollment had surged to roughly 22 million.
Federal investigators now believe millions of those enrollments were improper, fraudulent, or created without the knowledge of the individuals involved.
“By our estimate, improper, phantom, and fraudulent enrollment peaked at 5.6 million people in 2025,” the report states.
“We estimate 2.6 million improper and phantom enrollments remain, including over 1 million enrollments without a Social Security number.”
According to the report, several different forms of abuse contributed to the alleged fraud.
Officials say some applicants intentionally understated their income to qualify for larger taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Others allegedly received premium assistance despite failing to meet eligibility requirements.
Investigators also identified what they describe as “phantom enrollments,” in which insurance brokers allegedly enrolled people in Obamacare plans without their knowledge to collect federal commissions.
The report argues that reduced verification requirements made those practices significantly easier to carry out.
Since taking office, the Trump administration says it has restored stricter income verification requirements, ended several special enrollment periods, increased screening for duplicate Medicaid enrollment, and launched investigations into brokers suspected of creating phantom policies.
Officials also say they have strengthened oversight of agents participating in the federal marketplace.
As a result of those efforts, nearly three million enrollments have already been removed from the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Even after those removals, approximately 19.2 million people remain enrolled.
The administration says its goal is not to reduce legitimate coverage but to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent only on individuals who actually qualify.
“Preserving the fiscal and programmatic integrity of the ACA Exchanges is key to safeguarding taxpayer-funded resources for those that truly need them,” the report states.
“The federal government paying brokers to enroll individuals without their knowledge is not.”
The report also says the administration will continue pursuing additional enforcement actions against brokers and others accused of exploiting the program.
“The Trump Administration continues to aggressively root out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption by promulgating new regulations to improve program integrity, investigating suspected improper or fraudulent enrollment, and taking action against agents and brokers committing fraud.”
The findings are likely to reignite debate over the Affordable Care Act and how aggressively eligibility rules should be enforced.
Supporters of the administration argue the report demonstrates that stricter oversight is necessary to protect taxpayers and preserve benefits for those legally entitled to receive them.
Critics of previous verification rollbacks have long warned that loosening enrollment safeguards could increase improper payments and fraud, while supporters of the Biden-era policies argued the changes made healthcare more accessible to eligible Americans, Fox News reported exclusively.
The administration says its investigations remain ongoing, with an estimated 2.6 million additional enrollments still under review as officials continue auditing the federal health insurance exchanges.
Trump has been pushing to replace Obamacare for over a decade, and this may give Republicans enough motivation to actually do something.
