The provision fell outside the jurisdiction of the Senate Judiciary Committee, MacDonough determined, making it ineligible for the filibuster-exempt reconciliation process. [1][2] Under Senate procedure, reconciliation provisions must have a direct budgetary impact and remain within the jurisdiction of the drafting committee; provisions that fail this test are subject to a point-of-order challenge requiring 60 votes for inclusion rather than a simple majority.
The ruling concerns the broader $72 billion immigration enforcement package Senate Republicans are assembling through reconciliation. The bill would direct approximately $38.2 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and between $22 billion and $26 billion to Customs and Border Protection, according to documents released by the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees on 4 May. [3][4]