bernie sanders

April 23 (UPI) — Senate Republicans were up all night voting, eventually adopting a budget reconciliation package Thursday morning to prepare to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

The Senate plans to fund the department without Democrats’ help. The resolution was adopted at around 3:30 a.m. EDT Thursday by a vote of 50-48 after about six hours.

The only Republicans to vote against the resolution were Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rand Paul, R-Ky. The bill now goes to the House. If the House adopts the resolution, the final funding bill can be written and voted on by Congress.

They are following a deadline of June 1 set by President Donald Trump.

“We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America’s borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies,” said Senate Republican Leader John Thune, R-N.D.

Thune told fellow senators to keep the package narrow to ensure speedy passage.

Since the January deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, both shot and killed by DHS officers, Democrats have refused to support funding the department without reforms. The department has been shut down since Feb, 14, though Trump told the department to use emergency funds to pay essential workers.

Just before the Easter recess, the Senate passed a bill that would fund most of DHS but not ICE and Border Patrol. But the House rejected it.

Republicans are hoping to fund the department through 2029 at a cost of between $70 and $80 billion.

The late-night vote-a-rama included votes about amendments that could be added to the resolution. Two Republican Senators who are vulnerable in the November elections — Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska — broke ranks on some amendments.

Collins and Sullivan voted for amendments to lower health care costs, to reverse last year’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cuts and to tackle insurance companies that delay or deny medical care. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., joined with Collins and Sullivan on the latter.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also sponsored an amendment that would tell the budget committee chair to help cut prescription drug prices by half. Hawley, Collins and Sullivan supported Sanders on it. Sanders said his amendment would codify ensuring that Americans wouldn’t pay more for prescriptions than Canadians or Europeans.

The amendments wouldn’t have the power to force Republicans’ hands, but they would make Republicans go on record about their views of these items.

“This reconciliation, or this budget act, will show who’s on whose side, and clearly if Republicans vote against our amendments, they’re not on the side of the American people,” Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox and Friends on Tuesday that the department will run out of money for salaries next month.

“I’ve got one payroll left, and there is no more emergency funds so the president can’t do another executive order because there’s no more money there,” The Hill reported he said.

The resolution does not include the SAVE America Act, the voter security bill that Trump and other Republicans have pushed for. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., sponsored an amendment to add similar restrictions, but it failed 48-50. Collins, Murkowski, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-S.C., and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted against it.

March 29 (UPI) — Participants in the thousands of No Kings demonstrations across the United States said they came out to protest President Donald Trump for his crackdown on immigration, his decision to go to war in Iran, and even his decisions to put his name on federal property and money.

The organizers behind the No Kings movement estimated that about 8 million people turned out for Saturday’s protests, which took place across at least 3,000 individual locations in every single congressional district in the country. The New York Times reported, though, that the estimate could be off because organizers’ figures in some cases were higher than those reported by local public safety officials.

The marquee event at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul drew more than 200,000, people, organizers said. Among them were Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., singer Joan Baez, actor Jane Fonda and Gov. Tim Walz. Rocker Bruce Springsteen performed his original song, “Streets of Minneapolis, inspired by civilian deaths at the hands of federal immigration officials during an enforcement crackdown earlier this year.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that the St. Paul demonstration had a dual purpose — condemning the Trump administration while also celebrating the those in the state who stood against the federal immigration enforcement surge.

Speaking at the St. Paul event, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called on attendees to “look past Trump and into the society we dream about.”

“Every right we fought for and won is under attack right now,” he said. “In part, we got ourselves into this mess because of an election, and we’re going to get out of this mess with an election.”

At the University of Iowa, organizers Katy Gates told The Times many college-age attendees were inspired to protest in response to the war in Iran. Trump authorized attacks on Iran in conjunction with Israel beginning Feb. 28. Some have taken issue with the now-monthlong involvement in a war without congressional approval.

“Our generation has grown up with this idea of endless war in the Middle East,” she said. “And the idea of getting into yet another is something that people are rightfully angry about.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., went beyond protesting Saturday, announcing a bill to ban sitting presidents from putting their names on federal property and currency.

“In America, we do not bow to kings,” she said. “Our president should be focused on bringing down grocery prices, making healthcare affordable and ensuring every family can get ahead, not using their position to boost their own personal brand.

“It is time that we institute this ban and make sure that our government serves the people, not one person’s ego.”

Inspired by the addition of Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C., and his plans to add his own signature to currency, the legislation would also ban banners with the president’s face on the side of federal buildings, naming a class of warships after a sitting president and putting their image on commemorative coins.