Senate Republicans beat back early attempts to quash the Justice Department’s controversial “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and potentially endanger the GOP’s immigration enforcement bill.
Senators voted 50-49 Thursday to reject an attempt by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that would have sent the measure back to the Judiciary Committee to insert language that would nix President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion payout vehicle. The move was aimed at codifying the promise acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made to House appropriators Tuesday that the administration would scrap plans for the fund.
“Democrats will force Republicans to vote on Trump’s MAGA slush fund, his lifetime tax exemption, his billion-dollar taxpayer funded ballroom,” Schumer said from the Senate floor, referring also to an IRS settlement ruling out future Trump audits and the White House project to replace the razed East Wing.
Three GOP senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Jon Husted of Ohio — voted for Schumer’s motion. All are seeking reelection this year.
Democrats and most Republicans rejected an effort by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) to redirect the anti-weaponization funding toward “fraud enforcement” at DOJ.
“If Blanche says that this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that? Otherwise, you’re exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense,” Tillis said shortly before the vote.
Democrats argued that Tillis’ proposal would just shift the money from one politicized purpose to another, and most Republicans chose to simply maintain the status quo.
But 11 GOP senators — Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, John Curtis of Utah, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Jon Husted of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana — joined with Tillis.
Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota also voted to advance the amendment.
The two efforts were the first of what is expected to be many attempts from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle at inserting language into the measure about the fund during the so-called “vote-a-rama.”
Unlike other expected attempts, Schumer’s motion could have been approved with a simple majority vote. Republicans held the vote on Schumer’s motion open for more than two hours as leaders worked through concerns from several GOP holdouts who have wanted to curtail the fund.
Tillis’ and other fund-related amendments are likely to be at a higher 60-vote threshold.
The fund has created a lingering headache for GOP leaders. Asked if he expected Tillis’ amendment would fail, Thune told reporters that he’s “not confident of anything right now.”
“I think we’ll have a vote or two around that issue — I can’t predict how it comes out,” he added. “People are going to have the option to vote for it.”
Adding language to the bill affecting the DOJ payout fund could divide Republicans and threaten the underlying immigration enforcement bill’s chances of clearing the Senate.
“There is nothing in the bill on this,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said about the DOJ fund. “I think we should try to move forward.”
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