WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans scrapped their remaining votes for the week and won’t reconvene until June after tensions exploded over the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion “weaponization” fund.
The GOP had hoped to fulfill President Trump’s June 1 deadline of passing a party-line funding measure for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
But that faced stiff headwinds in the Senate that became apparent during a testy closed-door meeting with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, during which half the conference grilled him over the fund.
“We will pick up where we left off,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters about the plan for when the lawmakers reconvene next month.
“They need to help with this issue,” Thune said of the Trump administration, “because we have a lot of members who are concerned.”
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Senators reportedly yelled at Blanche during the heated meeting, according to ABC News, warning him Republicans risked losing the Senate over the fund.
“It makes everything way harder than it should be,” Thune said of the weaponization fund derailing the immigration enforcement bill.
GOP senators are reportedly seeking to put guardrails on who can receive payouts from the pot of taxpayer money intended for “victims of lawfare,” which Democrats and even some Republicans have derided as a “slush fund.”
Democrats are expected to push amendments during the reconciliation process aiming to block the fund or ban payments to Trump supporters who attacked law enforcement during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol Building.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) plans to put forward an amendment preventing Jan. 6 defendants or child sex offenders from receiving payouts.
Some senators were also still reeling from Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) defeat over the weekend and President Trump’s endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
“Our majority is melting down before our eyes,” one senator fumed to Punchbowl News.
Cassidy publicly came out against the weaponization fund in a social media post on Wednesday.
“People are concerned about paying their mortgage or rent, affording groceries and paying for gas, not about putting together a $1.8 billion fund for the President and his allies to pay whomever they wish with no legal precedent or accountability,” Cassidy wrote on X. “This is adding to our national debt. If there needs to be a settlement, the administration should bring it to Congress to decide.”
The ICE and CBP funding bill has also faced hurdles due to the Senate Parliamentarian spiking $1 billion in funding for a security initiative near the White House ballroom project, which had been a top priority for Trump, but met with resistance in the GOP.
“It is a huge threat to public safety to not have full funding for the heroes of ICE and Border Patrol,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters after the scrapped vote.
Given that the Senate was unable to resolve its differences on an ICE and CBP funding bill, the House opted to finish up its remaining votes for the day and break for recess.
