Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Republicans on Thursday that a vote on the $70 billion in enforcement money had been canceled, due to the impeachment.
The meeting was scrapped after the Senate postponed a vote on the party-line bill until after its Memorial Day recess, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
The meeting was set to be attended by House Speaker Mike Johnson and a handful of Republican senators. Trump denies aircraft carrier strike group deployment is meant to intimidate Cuba Earlier Thursday, Republican senators met with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over concerns surrounding the “anti-weaponization” fund established on Monday. The meeting lasted over two hours, and Republican senators emerged declining to comment.that Blanche’s briefing had failed to assuage GOP senators.
The mood with GOP senators further soured over the White House’s official guidance on who could be compensated by the fund, including lawmakers who had their cellphone data subpoenaed during Biden-era investigations. Ultimately, 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.
The scheduling shift comes despite a June 1 deadline from President Donald Trump to get the legislation across the finish line. The senior GOP aide blamed the impasse on the Trump administration for announcing the creation of the fund this week, as lawmakers were already antsy about the immigration bill, which includes $1 billion for White House security upgrades.
The security funding has come under fire because a portion of it is set to benefit Trump’s under-construction East Wing ballroom, which is privately funded. Over on the House side, GOP lawmakers were just as concerned about the fund. Rep. Kevin Kiley , who caucuses with Republicans, told thehe did not want to see the fund move forward.
Rep. Don Bacon said the fund was “not right. ” Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick and Tom Suozzi , meanwhile, are set to introduce a bill to kill the fund entirely.
Both the House and Senate are to leave Washington on Thursday until for a scheduled Memorial Day recess. The House was initially supposed to hold votes on Friday but canceled following the Senate’s decision to punt on the immigration bill. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris said there was “no emergency” for Congress to pass the party-line bill before Trump’s self-imposed June 1 deadline.
Senate Republican Senators White House Attorney General Blanche Encryption Fund Lawmakers Cellphone Data Subpoenaed Trump Administration Election Interference Congress Republican House White House Security Upgrades Anticommunism Bill Republican Misinformation
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