The Senate Republican conference cancelled a vote on $70 billion in enforcement money after a meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who reassured senators over the 'anti-weaponization' fund structure and eligibility. The plan was to start a marathon voting session that day, but it was scrapped due to GOP discomfort over the settlement fund.
enforcement money until after the Memorial Day recess, a dramatic shift in plans fueled by Republican discomfort over the Justice Department ’s new “anti-weaponization” fund. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Republicans on Thursday that a vote on the $70 billion in enforcement money had been canceled, according to a source familiar with the matter.
GOP weighs scrubbing White House security funding from immigration bill over ballroom controversy The tentative plan had been to start a marathon voting session later that day, but the conference punted after a meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that lasted more than two hours. In that meeting, senators pressed Blanche over how the $1.776 billion fund, rolled out Monday to compensate victims of “lawfare,” would be structured and who would be eligible for the settlements.
In particular, Republicans expressed concern payouts could go to individuals convicted or accused of assaulting U.S. Capitol Police on Jan. 6, 2021. Sen.
Susan Collins , one of the senators to object on those grounds, told reporters that Blanche “seemed” to say that would not be the case, but she wanted to see language to that effect and is part of a larger group of Republicans who feel the fund, controlled by a commission appointed by the president, needs more guardrails. Blanche’s visit to the Capitol amounted to a last-ditch attempt to assuage those concerns ahead of a “vote-a-rama” planned for the immigration enforcement bill.
The legislation was already on shaky ground due to $220 million in ballroom security money that Trump wanted to see attached, and Republicans soon began to insist that reconcilation, the party-line budget process they are using to skirt the filibuster, not move forward until the fund’s fate had been addressed as well. On Thursday, Democrats reveled in the divisions and promised to force the matter if Republicans decided to proceed with a vote.
They had already been portraying the ballroom funding as a presidential vanity project. In terms of the “anti-weaponization” fund, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer alleged that Trump was setting up a “slush fund” to protect his political allies.
Earlier in the day, the Justice Department sought to assure Senate Republicans that the president himself would not be eligible for the payouts, although Blanche did leave the door open to senators receiving compensation after their phone records were surveilled under the Biden administration.
“They’re just stuck, because they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t,” Schumer said. “They’re damned if they side with Trump, because the American people hate what Trump is doing, by and large. They’re damned if they side with the American people, because Trump goes after them, as we saw this week. ” Republicans said little about the impasse Thursday, even as the conversation with Blanche was clearly heated.
Sen. Rand Paul called the meeting “spirited,” and afterward, others pointed blame at the Justice Department for the immigration enforcement vote being delayed. Thune acknowledged that Republicans were uncomfortable with the settlement fund but generally avoided questions from reporters on Thursday.
“Obviously, our members have very legitimate questions about it,” Thune said. “We’ve had some conversations about … if it’s going to be a feature going forward, about what it might look like and how we might make sure that it’s fenced in appropriately.
” A separate meeting between Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump was cancelled on Thursday as the time line for the immigration bill, which the president initially wanted on his desk by June 1, appeared to be slipping.
US Capitol Police Anti-Weaponization Ballroom Security Money Concerns Funding Funding Allocation Justice Department Lawfare Lawsuits Lawsuits Against Trump Allies Meeting Mar-A-Lago Memorial Day Recess Phone Records Payouts Republican Discomfort Republican Senators Settlements Slush Fund Supreme Court Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch Trump Trump's Political Allies White House Security Funding White House Surveillance
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