ALSOBROOKS VOTES NO ON AN ADDITIONAL $70 BILLION TO ICE

June 5, 2026

WASHINGTON, DC - Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) voted early this morning to prevent investing more than $70 billion more in taxpayer funds for ICE and Border Patrol. She released the following statement:

"As gas prices spike, the cost of groceries continues to rise, and millions of Americans lose access to their health care, Republicans have just handed over an additional $70 billion to ICE without serious reforms. Republicans have made it all too clear that their loyalty to protecting this President outweighs their loyalty to the American people. Tonight's vote proved once again that their focus remains elsewhere: the President's $2 billion slush fund, his ballroom, his arch, and his helipad. Not on lowering Americans' costs."

Senator Alsobrooks filed the following amendments, which represent the Democratic priorities focused on lowering costs, protecting public health, and defending our federal workers:

• #5730: Lowering Drug Costs
  • This amendment would strengthen the drug price negotiation program to deliver more savings to the American people by increasing the annual number of prescription drugs selected for price negotiation.

• #5731: Lowering Drug Costs
  • This amendment would lower costs by extending the historic drug price negotiation program to all Americans with private coverage. This includes over 164 million workers and their families who get health coverage through their jobs and more than 24 million individuals with Affordable Care Act coverage.

• #5732: Lowering Energy Costs
  • This amendment would reduce funding for ICE to fund the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981.

• #5733: Restoring CDC and NIH Staffing to Prevent Public Health Crises
  • This amendment would require OPM and HHS to restore NIH and CDC staffing to January 2025 levels in order to respond to emerging health threats, including Ebola.

• #5734: Protecting and Paying Federal Workers During Shutdowns
  • This amendment would ensure that federal workers and contractors continue to receive pay during government shutdowns. It would also prohibit agencies from proposing or implementing reductions in force or other, similar forms of mass layoffs during shutdowns.

• #5735: Protecting Health Care Facilities from ICE Enforcement Actions
  • Under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy, hospitals and community health centers are designated as "sensitive locations." That being said, loopholes exist that allow agents to question individuals or make arrests in parking lots or waiting rooms without a warrant, creating a chilling effect that impacts patient care, and patient willingness to seek care, even in emergent situations. This amendment would prevent funds from being used to facilitate enforcement efforts at these locations.

• #5736: Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program
  • This amendment would reduce funding for ICE to fund the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program to help low-income households afford rising water and wastewater utility costs and prevent such households from experiencing shutoffs during periods of economic hardship or extreme weather.

• #5737: ICE Funding to CFBP
  • This amendment strikes the $350 million designated to ICE to launch enforcement surges in cities without cooperation agreements with federal agencies and repurposes this funding to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to target fraud, scams, and corporate wrongdoing.

• #5738: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Nutrition Education Funding
  • This amendment would reduce funding for ICE to carry out the nutrition education program under the supplemental nutrition assistance program established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008.

• #5752: Making Child Care Affordable
  • This amendment would withhold the funding allocated in the reconciliation bill until after legislation is enacted to cap child care costs for working families at seven percent of family income.

• #5789: Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC)
  • This amendment would reduce funding for ICE to fund the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program to reduce the future costs of disasters.

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