The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a three-year budget plan that would ​pave the way for Congress to consider an additional $70 billion for immigration ‌enforcement activities by federal agents.

The House voted 215-211, with no Democrats supporting it. House Speaker Mike Johnson held the vote open for more than five hours as he worked to ​get enough of his fellow Republicans to embrace the measure.

Some, from farm states, were holding out for a future vote on expanding the sale of gasoline blended with ethanol.

The Senate approved the plan on April ​23. With the House going along, it will be up to Republicans in ​both chambers to put together details of the $70-billion proposal and win passage before sending it to President Donald Trump to sign it into law.

Republicans are hoping to do so in May and will ​use a special, rarely used procedure that allows them to steer the legislation through the Senate without any support from Democrats.

Republicans used the same procedure last year ‌to ⁠ram through around $130 billion in funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agencies - a huge boost that Trump requested to carry out his massive migrant deportation campaign.

Republicans have resisted Democrats' attempts to constrain ICE and Border Patrol ​operations in U.S. cities ​that have triggered ⁠protests, especially after two U.S. citizens were shot dead by federal agents this year in Minneapolis.

By the end of this week, a series of agencies operating under the Department of Homeland Security will run out of funding unless Republicans in Congress reach an agreement on a separate bill for the fiscal year ending on September 30.

The Senate has passed a bill to fund DHS agencies, including the Secret Service, Coast Guard, and Federal Emergency Management Agency, but House Republicans have so far refused to go along.