Trump Faces Gop Immigration Bill Delay Over $1.776 Billion Fund
Senate Republicans triggered a gop immigration bill delay on Thursday, May 23, by halting action on a $72 billion immigration enforcement spending bill over Donald Trump’s $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund. The fight now moves to next month, when Congress returns from recess and the same dispute is expected to come back to the floor.
Trump’s $1.776 Billion Fund
Trump has promoted the fund as money for people he says were victims of government weaponization. He wrote on his social media platform, “I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!”
Republican senators wanted the fund either killed or put under tough guardrails. Democrats pledged to use the immigration bill to attack it, turning a spending measure into a test of whether the party can keep its own coalition together while controlling only slim majorities in both houses of Congress.
Tillis and Bacon Push Back
Thom Tillis said, “The American people are going to reject this out of hand,” and added, “(The fund) could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned and now we're going to pay them for that? That's absurd,” in a Thursday interview with Spectrum News. Brian Fitzpatrick joined Tom Suozzi on legislation to prohibit payment of any claims submitted to the fund.
Don Bacon called the ballroom and anti-weaponization funds in the immigration spending bill “poison pills” for House Republicans. Doug Heye said, “We've heard this talk for 10 years now of rebellion and cracks in the coalition. It has never happened,” and described Republicans as “constantly capitulating” on matters important to Trump, with any revolt still “light years” away.
John Thune Blocks Funding
John Thune blocked $1 billion in federal funding for a White House ballroom one day earlier, adding another pressure point to the broader fight over Trump-linked spending. The clash also comes less than six months after January 6, 2021, when the Capitol was attacked, and the article says beneficiaries of the fund could include people convicted in connection with that attack.
Congress returns from recess next month, and the bill is likely to face the same dispute again as Republicans weigh whether to keep the fund attached or strip it out before the immigration package can move forward.
