Senate Republicans are counting on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to offer new assurances Tuesday that the Justice Department’s controversial “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is kaput, allowing them to revive their immigration enforcement bill this week.
Blanche is appearing before a House committee in the afternoon, hours after speaking privately with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who said he was expecting Blanche to put any remaining doubts about the fate of the fund to rest.
“I think his statements are going to be very definitive, very clear,” Thune told reporters after a closed-door lunch with fellow GOP senators. A DOJ statement Monday saying the department would “abide by” a temporary court decision halting payouts from the fund failed to assuage GOP skeptics.
Thune added that he hoped that Blanche would “create the certainty” that Republicans need to move forward with the party-line immigration enforcement bill, which was derailed late last month after the $1.8 billion fund was announced
However, he cautioned that he wasn’t “guaranteeing that happens yet.” And GOP Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin after the lunch both played down the chances that there would be a marathon voting session on the bill this week.
But Blanche’s 4 p.m. testimony before the House Appropriations Committee was discussed inside the lunch, according to two attendees granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door event, and some members left the room talking about what the acting AG might say.
“I would pay attention to the attorney general’s testimony before the House this afternoon,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said, while Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) noted that Blanche’s testimony will be “part of us figuring out where all of our members are.”
Before launching votes on the immigration bill, Republican leaders need to determine whether they have the votes to pass it. Several GOP senators have raised concerns about the fund, which could be used to pay prosecuted allies of President Donald Trump, and said they could vote on amendments to curtail it.
With Democrats firmly opposed, Thune can lose as many as three Republicans, with Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie on the filibuster-skirting bill.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters there are still issues that needed to be worked out with the fund.
“To provide restitution to somebody who assaulted a police officer and pled guilty to it — I mean, man, I’ve seen some crazy stuff before, but that’s right up there with crazy,” he said.
Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
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