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S. 2 · 119th Congress

Secure America Act

Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC] (R-SC) · Introduced

Public Law 119-98Immigration
Progress
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1
Introduced
A bill is formally introduced by a lawmaker; it is assigned an ID and sent to committee.
2
Committee
A smaller group of lawmakers reviews, debates, and edits the bill before it can advance.
3
Reported
After committee work, the committee releases a report and the bill can go to the full chamber for a vote.
4
Senate Vote
The bill has passed the full Senate.
5
House Vote
The bill has passed the full House of Representatives.
6
Passed Congress
Both the House and Senate have passed the bill; it moves to the President for final approval.
7
Sent to President
The bill has been sent to the President, who may sign it, veto it, or let a ten-day clock decide.
8
Became Law
The bill is now law — by the President's signature, by the ten-day rule when the President declines to sign, or by a two-thirds veto override.

Latest action

Became Public Law No: 119-98.

· from Congress.gov, as of August 8, 2026

Committees

Budget CommitteeJudiciary Committee

What this stage means

The bill is now law — by the President's signature, by the ten-day rule when the President declines to sign, or by a two-thirds veto override.

Why this matters

There are three constitutional paths to enactment, and only one of them requires the President's approval.

What can happen next

Executive agencies write regulations to implement it; courts may review challenges to it.

Study this bill

AP Gov
Unit 2 · Interactions Among Branches of Government

The constitutional question

What happens when the regular appropriations process says no? The same spring Congress zeroed ICE and CBP out of the FY2026 DHS bill, the majority moved roughly $70 billion for those agencies — available through FY2029 — via budget reconciliation (Senate 52–47, House 214–212, Public Law 119-98), needing no minority votes at all. The pairing with H.R. 7147 is the whole lesson: the filibuster governs one lane of the purse and not the other, and multi-year money insulates agencies from the next annual fight.

The strongest case for

An election was fought substantially over immigration enforcement, the winning coalition holds both chambers, and 41-plus senators plus a shutdown standoff were nonetheless able to strip enforcement agencies out of the annual bill — reconciliation exists precisely so a governing majority can enact the fiscal core of its mandate by majority rule. Multi-year funding is a feature: agencies running detention facilities and hiring thousands of officers cannot plan on 76-day funding cliffs and messaging riders, and three years of certainty takes DHS hostage-taking off the table for both parties. The Byrd Rule confined the bill to spending, which is exactly what it is: dollars, the most legitimately majoritarian question in politics.

The strongest case against

Reconciliation was built as deficit-control machinery, and this bill completes its conversion into a filibuster-bypass for whatever the majority's priority happens to be — here, advance-funding agencies through FY2029 precisely so the annual appropriations process, Congress's recurring moment of leverage over the bureaucracy, cannot touch them again until after two more elections. That is not efficiency; it is oversight forfeiture on purpose. In 2021 the parliamentarian struck immigration policy from a Democratic reconciliation bill as non-budgetary; funding immigration enforcement at $70 billion passes the Byrd Rule because money always does — meaning the rule now filters out everything except the most consequential thing. The 214–212 margin bought a three-and-a-half-year commitment no future majority consented to.

Foundational documents in play

  • U.S. Constitution

    The same Article I purse power the DHS appropriations fight weaponized — exercised here through the one Senate process the minority cannot filibuster.

  • Federalist No. 51

    When one procedural channel (annual appropriations) deadlocked, the majority's ambition found another (reconciliation); the machine reroutes, it doesn't stop.

Organizations supporting

Organizations opposing

This has happened before

In 2021, Senate Democrats tried to put immigration legalization into reconciliation and the parliamentarian struck it as 'merely incidental' to the budget; in 2026, Republicans put $70 billion of immigration enforcement into reconciliation and it sailed, because appropriated dollars are the one thing the Byrd Rule always permits. Same tool, same subject, opposite parties, opposite outcomes — decided entirely by the policy/money line. This is also the second reconciliation act of the 119th Congress, after H.R. 1: the process has become the majority's standing answer to the 60-vote Senate.

Practice FRQ

Concept Application. "After the annual appropriations bill provided two agencies no new funds, Congress passed a reconciliation act giving those agencies $70 billion available over three-plus years, on near-party-line votes." (A) Describe how budget reconciliation differs from regular Senate procedure. (B) Explain how the Byrd Rule determines what reconciliation may contain, using the treatment of immigration policy in 2021 versus immigration funding in 2026. (C) Explain how multi-year funding changes Congress's future oversight leverage over an agency.

Sources: www.congress.gov · www.npr.org · www.cbo.gov

Action history

Every recorded action from Congress.gov — 35 total.

  1. Signed by President.

  2. Signed by President.

  3. Became Public Law No: 119-98.

  4. Became Public Law No: 119-98.

  5. House

    Rule H. Res. 1345 passed House.

  6. House

    Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 1345. (consideration: CR H4017-4029)

  7. House

    Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 8312, H.R. 8464, H. Res. 1335 and S. 2. The resolution provides for consideration of H.R. 8312, H.R. 8464, H. Res. 1335, and S. 2 under a closed rule with one hour of general debate on each measure. The resolution provides for a motion to recommit H.R. 8312 and H.R. 8464 and a motion to commit S. 2.

  8. House

    DEBATE - The House proceeded with one hour of debate on S. 2.

  9. House

    The previous question was ordered pursuant to the rule.

  10. House

    Mr. Boyle (PA) moved to commit to the Committee on the Budget. (text: CR H4027)

  11. House

    The previous question on the motion to commit was ordered pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XIX.

  12. House

    On motion to commit Failed by the Yeas and Nays: 211 - 215 (Roll no. 213).

  13. House

    Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed by recorded vote: 214 - 212 (Roll no. 214). (text: CR H4017-4018)

  14. House

    On passage Passed by recorded vote: 214 - 212 (Roll no. 214). (text: CR H4017-4018)

  15. House

    Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

  16. Presented to President.

  17. House

    Presented to President.

  18. House

    Received in the House.

  19. House

    Held at the desk.

  20. House

    Rules Committee Resolution H. Res. 1345 Reported to House. Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 8312, H.R. 8464, H. Res. 1335 and S. 2. The resolution provides for consideration of H.R. 8312, H.R. 8464, H. Res. 1335, and S. 2 under a closed rule with one hour of general debate on each measure. The resolution provides for a motion to recommit H.R. 8312 and H.R. 8464 and a motion to commit S. 2.

  21. Senate

    Motion by Senator Wyden to commit to Senate Committee on the Judiciary with instructions rejected in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 48 - 51. Record Vote Number: 153. (text: CR S2562)

  22. Senate

    Motion by Senator Rosen to commit to Senate Committee on the Judiciary with instructions rejected in Senate by Voice Vote. (text: CR S2567)

  23. Senate

    Motion by Senator Wyden to commit to Senate Committee on the Judiciary with instructions rejected in Senate by Voice Vote. (text: CR S2567)

  24. Senate

    Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 52 - 47. Record Vote Number: 163.

  25. Senate

    Passed Senate with an amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 52 - 47. Record Vote Number: 163. (text: CR S2570-2571)

  26. Senate

    Message on Senate action sent to the House.

  27. Senate

    Considered by Senate. (consideration: CR S2545-2571)

  28. Senate

    Motion by Senator Schumer to commit to Senate Committee on the Judiciary with instructions rejected in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 49 - 50. Record Vote Number: 137. (text: CR S2549)

  29. Senate

    Motion by Senator Ossoff to commit to Senate Committee on the Judiciary with instructions rejected in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 47 - 50. Record Vote Number: 141. (text: CR S2552)

  30. Senate

    Motion by Senator Warnock to commit to Senate Committee on the Judiciary with instructions rejected in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 46 - 52. Record Vote Number: 147. (text: CR S2558)

  31. Senate

    Motion to proceed to consideration of measure agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 53 - 46. Record Vote Number: 136.

  32. Senate

    Measure laid before Senate by motion. (consideration: CR S2510-2518)

  33. Senate

    Committee on the Budget. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Graham. Without written report.

  34. Senate

    Committee on the Budget. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Graham. Without written report.

  35. Senate

    Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 417.