Senate Republicans face a political knife-edge over Trump's 'anti-weaponization' fund
WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - Senate Republicans face a stark choice when they return from recess next week: back President Donald Trump's controversial $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund to benefit his political allies or defy a commander-in-chief who just ended the careers
WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - Senate Republicans face a stark choice when they return from recess next week: back President Donald Trump's controversial $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund to benefit his political allies or defy a commander-in-chief who just ended the careers of two Republican senators.
Nearly half of the 53-member Republican Senate majority balked at the issue during a heated two-hour meeting with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche before the week-long Memorial Day break, forcing leadership to suspend plans to pass a $72 billion partisan bill to fund Trump's immigration crackdown through the end of his presidency.
With Republican leaders now poised to vote on the measure to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, the party is pressing Trump's Justice Department to agree on guardrails that could defuse Democratic plans to force repeated votes on amendments to derail the fund and embarrass the president.
"I would hope that Senate leadership is working with the administration and the Department of Justice to design something that's going to work," said Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin conservative who says he fully supports the fund. "My suggestion was, come up with an overriding amendment that will render all their amendments moot."
The fund, which would compensate victims of political "weaponization" with taxpayer money, emerged from a legal settlement between Trump's Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service to resolve an unprecedented lawsuit in which the president had sought $10 billion over the alleged mishandling of his tax records.
The announcement set off a firestorm of criticism, with lawmakers raising concerns about potential self-dealing by Trump, and the prospect of payouts to violent Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol and assaulted police on January 6, 2021.
On Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration from moving forward with the fund.
Blanche told lawmakers behind closed doors that the fund would not pay out money to members of the Trump family or anyone convicted of a violent crime, according to people in the room. But lawmakers want those assurances in writing, along with eligibility requirements, greater congressional control in selecting fund commissioners, and some form of judicial oversight.
