Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said Congress should permanently end government shutdowns after the Senate approved a Republican-backed funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection after an all-night voting session.

The Senate passed the roughly $70 billion reconciliation measure shortly before 5 a.m. Friday after a marathon "vote-a-rama" that stretched nearly 19 hours and funded ICE and Border Patrol operations through the end of President Donald Trump's term. The bill now heads to the House for consideration.

Lankford, appearing Friday on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," described the process as exhausting and accused Democrats of using amendments to try to derail the legislation.

"It was a painful, long, drawn-out process," Lankford said. "We started voting at 10:30 yesterday morning. We voted continuously all day, then all night. We finished up just about two hours ago on the floor of the Senate. I ran back, got a quick shower and restarted again."

Lankford said the reconciliation measure was designed narrowly to address funding for immigration enforcement agencies.

"We're just funding ICE and border protection, so everything not related to that actually destroys the whole process," he said.

Lankford accused Democrats of attempting to use amendments on unrelated issues to sink the bill.

"Democrats spent 19 hours trying to bring up every amendment they possibly could," Lankford said. "The goal wasn't to solve a problem. The goal was to defund ICE. That's been their focus all along. They lost that. We literally blocked every single amendment they brought up. And then we did the final passage about 5:00 this morning, eastern time."

The overnight debate included repeated fights over a proposed $1.8 billion Department of Justice "anti-weaponization" fund that has drawn scrutiny from both parties. Several amendments seeking to permanently block the fund failed before the bill's final passage.

Lankford argued the controversy had already been addressed after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the proposal would not move forward.

"Todd Blanche has already said it's off the table. It's done. They're not going to do it," Lankford said.

He added that existing legal avenues remain available for individuals who believe they were unfairly targeted by the federal government.

"There is a way, by the way, that already exists in law for people that have had government weaponized against them to be able to get access to the courts," Lankford said.

While discussing the legislation, Lankford also highlighted a separate bill he is sponsoring that would effectively eliminate future government shutdowns.

"Pretty simple. I think government shutdowns are dumb," Lankford said. "They actually hurt federal workers every single time. They also waste a lot of taxpayer dollars."

Under Lankford's proposal, if Congress fails to pass appropriations bills before funding expires, an automatic continuing resolution would take effect and maintain spending at the prior year's levels. Members of Congress would then be required to remain in session and focus exclusively on appropriations until the funding bills are completed.

"It basically says if you don't finish your work during class, you got to stay after class until you get it done," Lankford said. "It's just that straightforward."

The proposal comes after a series of funding disputes this year that contributed to lengthy shutdown battles involving DHS funding and immigration enforcement programs.