Senate okays $4.6 billion in emergency border spending, including funding for ICE

Both parties in the Senate agree on one thing: There's a dire situation at the southern border.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 84-8 to approve $4.6 billion in emergency funding for the U.S.-Mexico border, sending $2.88 billion to the Office of Refugee Resettlement and other funding to the Defense Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The House's version of the bill passed Tuesday doesn't include the DoD or ICE funding, setting the two chambers up for reconciliation discussions, The Washington Post reports.

The Senate's vote came as outrageous conditions on the border become even more apparent, with reports indicating last week that migrant children were being held in disgusting conditions in a remote Texas detention facility. ORR, which cares for these children, has been cutting services as its funding dries up. The Democratic House's version of the emergency spending bill requires greater scrutiny of private detention centers that house migrants, meaning it will have to work with the GOP-held Senate to decide if that provision makes it to President Trump's desk.

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Ahead of Wednesday's vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought up a stunning photo of a father and daughter who drowned crossing the Rio Grande, and asked Trump to see the migrants as "people fleeing a horrible situation in their home country for a better life." Trump has hinted that he prefers the Senate's version of the bill, and suggested the two chambers "get together" to work out a deal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called the House bill's stricter requirements "poison-pill riders which the president would veto." Kathryn Krawczyk

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's title. It has since been corrected. We regret the error.