{"id":24551,"date":"2026-05-04T22:20:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T02:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=24551"},"modified":"2026-05-05T09:30:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:30:30","slug":"merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington DC <strong>\u2014<\/strong> Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement after Senate Republicans released bill text that will gift the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) nearly $70 billion in new spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>\u201cNow that Republicans have unveiled their bill gifting ICE and Border Patrol nearly $70 billion to continue propping up Trump\u2019s rogue police and wreaking havoc across American communities, Senate Democrats are prepared to review this bill line by line and vigorously challenge any provision that <\/strong><strong>violates the Byrd Rule<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>\u201cAt a time when gas prices are rising every day due to Trump\u2019s war of choice with Iran and families continue to struggle to buy groceries, Republicans are ignoring the needs of middle-class America and instead funneling money into Trump\u2019s ballroom and throwing billions at two lawless agencies\u2014agencies that are already sitting on over $100 billion in unspent funds.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>\u201cThroughout this process, Democrats will continue to show the American people that we are for bringing down costs, making it easier to get ahead, and building an economy where families thrive and billionaires pay their fair share. It is clear that the country has had enough of the Republican \u2018families lose, billionaires win\u2019 agenda<\/strong><strong>,\u201d <\/strong>said Ranking Member Jeff Merkley.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Last month, Merkley <a href=\"https:\/\/www.budget.senate.gov\/ranking-member\/newsroom\/press\/senate-republicans-ice-cbp-140-billion-over-100-billion-previous-reconciliation-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>liberado<\/strong><\/a><strong> <\/strong>an analysis of the Office of Management and Budget\u2019s (OMB) SF-133 reports showing that, as of the end of March, these two agencies are sitting on more than $103 billion in unobligated funding from the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that Republicans enacted last July. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement after Senate Republicans released bill text that will gift the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) nearly $70 billion in new spending. \u201cNow that Republicans [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":18848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[139,53,129],"class_list":["post-24551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-budget","tag-civil-rights","tag-protecting-consumers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement after Senate Republicans released bill text that will gift the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) nearly $70 billion in new spending. \u201cNow that Republicans [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T02:20:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T13:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kelly Park\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kelly Park\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kelly Park\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08\"},\"headline\":\"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T02:20:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-05T13:30:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/\"},\"wordCount\":286,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Budget\",\"Civil Rights\",\"Protecting Consumers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Press Releases\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/\",\"name\":\"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families - Merkley\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T02:20:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-05T13:30:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Senator Jeff Merkley speaking into a microphone.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\",\"name\":\"Merkley\",\"description\":\"Merkley\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08\",\"name\":\"Kelly Park\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kelly Park\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/kelly-park\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families - Merkley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/","og_locale":"es_MX","og_type":"article","og_title":"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families - Merkley","og_description":"Washington, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement after Senate Republicans released bill text that will gift the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) nearly $70 billion in new spending. \u201cNow that Republicans [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/","og_site_name":"Merkley","article_published_time":"2026-05-05T02:20:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-05T13:30:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kelly Park","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kelly Park","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/"},"author":{"name":"Kelly Park","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08"},"headline":"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families","datePublished":"2026-05-05T02:20:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-05T13:30:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/"},"wordCount":286,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png","keywords":["Budget","Civil Rights","Protecting Consumers"],"articleSection":["Press Releases"],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/","name":"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families - Merkley","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png","datePublished":"2026-05-05T02:20:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-05T13:30:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-MX","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-MX","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Updated-Release-Photo-2-.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Senator Jeff Merkley speaking into a microphone."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/merkley-statement-on-republicans-bill-gifting-ice-border-patrol-billions-while-ignoring-middle-class-families\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Merkley Statement on Republicans\u2019 Bill Gifting ICE, Border Patrol Billions While Ignoring Middle Class Families"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/","name":"merkley","description":"merkley","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/a81fd3a5f0745aa100fe55611dae0d08","name":"Kelly Park","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-MX","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df002e03ab4232ba73dea7f0e494bbdae1279b3751502c63dc78013d4e8c40f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kelly Park"},"url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/kelly-park\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24552,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24551\/revisions\/24552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}