{"id":131429,"date":"2026-06-01T13:52:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tensions-linger-between-republicans-and-white-house-over-the-anti-weaponization-fund\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T13:52:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:52:27","slug":"tensions-linger-between-republicans-and-white-house-over-the-anti-weaponization-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tensions-linger-between-republicans-and-white-house-over-the-anti-weaponization-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Tensions linger between Republicans and White House over the ‘anti-weaponization’ fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Senate
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during the Senate Republican policy luncheon news conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A standoff between the White House and the Senate remains unresolved after Republican senators defiantly left town 10 days ago<\/a> without passing legislation to fund President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans who are returning to Washington on Monday say they won\u2019t have the votes to pass the Homeland Security spending bill until the White House works with them to place parameters on a new $1.776 billion settlement fund<\/a> designed to compensate Trump\u2019s allies. Trump and the White House have yet to say publicly whether they will do so, even after a judge temporarily halted any payouts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated Monday he was hopeful the White House would move to drop the fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves,\u201d Thune told reporters.<\/p>\n

Thune, of South Dakota, previously said that the settlement money \u2014 some of which could potentially go to Trump supporters who beat police and attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021<\/a> \u2014 was complicating the GOP’s agenda. It \u201cjust makes everything way harder than it should be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The impasse over the \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund could be an inflection point as Republicans try to keep their majority in this year\u2019s elections and advance their agenda. Trump\u2019s campaign year push to defeat GOP lawmakers who he sees as disloyal, including some of Thune\u2019s most reliable Republican votes in the narrow 53-47 Senate, has only added to the tension.<\/p>\n

Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana<\/a> and John Cornyn of Texas<\/a> both lost reelection bids in May after Trump endorsed their primary opponents, and it’s unclear how supportive they’ll be of the president\u2019s agenda going forward. And a growing number of GOP senators have become frustrated with the president<\/a> as he ignores what they see as their political needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s hard to divorce anything that happens here from what\u2019s happening in the political atmosphere around us,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

Democrats have said they plan to offer several amendments to the immigration bill to scale back or eliminate the settlement. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a letter to colleagues Monday morning that Democrats will launch \u201ca coordinated effort to kill the slush fund before one cent goes out the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what Republicans do, we will force them to vote on it,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

As anger among Senate Republicans swelled, Trump made clear that he wasn\u2019t highly concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care about the midterms,\u201d Trump said last week in a discussion about the Iran war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans draw lines on settlement fund <\/strong><\/p>\n

At a closed-door meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche before they left town, Republican senators gave an ultimatum of sorts \u2014 put some limits on the settlement or we will do it for you.<\/p>\n

GOP senators had been discussing several ways that they could curb the fund, including limiting who can receive payouts, changing the makeup of the commission in charge of settlement decisions, adding some sort of judicial review for applicants or scrapping the fund altogether. Republicans have discussed adding parameters on the settlement to the unrelated immigration enforcement measure but would prefer that the White House make changes on its own.<\/p>\n

There were few signs of progress over the Memorial Day recess.<\/p>\n

Sen. Todd Young of Indiana told The Associated Press last week that he hadn\u2019t seen any indications \u201cthat would suggest they sent us a plan that our leadership thought was acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in their court,\u201d Young said of the White House.<\/p>\n

Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said on Fox New Channel’s \u201cFox News Sunday\u201d that discussions are underway \u201cto get to something that\u2019s going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there were just more details and more questions last week that needed to be resolved,\u201d Hagerty said, adding that \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to seeing the details this coming week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acting attorney general spars with the Senate <\/strong><\/p>\n

Blanche told the AP in an interview Thursday that \u201ca lot of the questions will be answered in the short term.\u201d But he would not elaborate, saying that \u201ctalking in hypotheticals is something that I don\u2019t think is fair to the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanche’s meeting with senators before they left town was \u201cangry,\u201d according to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who described it on his podcast. Cruz said that of around 45 Senate Republicans who attended, \u201cat least half of them were blasting the attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate had planned to stay in session late that night to vote on the immigration spending bill, but leaders canceled votes and sent everyone home. Cruz said Republican senators were \u201cyelling\u201d and told Blanche that the fund, which was part of a settlement that resolves Trump\u2019s lawsuit against the IRS<\/a> over the leak of his tax returns, \u201cfeels like self-dealing” and “feels like Trump cut a deal with himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz, who said he supports the fund, noted that Democrats had said they would offer amendments to kill it. Republicans “would have lost every vote\u201d if they had stayed in session, he said.<\/p>\n

He predicted that \u201cwe will see the administration announcing at a minimum a modification of this, because if they don\u2019t, they\u2019ve got a full-on revolt in the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jan. 6 defendants could get settlements <\/strong><\/p>\n

Cruz said that there were a lot of questions from senators about the Jan. 6 defendants and that Blanche reassured them that no one who committed an act of violence or assaulted law enforcement would get a payout. But Blanche has repeatedly declined to say that publicly, telling the AP that \u201cthere is no limit to who can apply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about people who were violent on Jan. 6, Blanche suggested that might be too hard to define.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is it? I mean, you tell me, right?\u201d Blanche said. \u201cYou have to define something and then stick to it. So that\u2019s something I\u2019ve been hesitant to try to do because it\u2019s very fact intensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has pardoned more than 1,500 defendants who were prosecuted in the 2021 attack, including hundreds who were convicted for violently beating and injuring police<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unity on immigration enforcement derailed by other issues <\/strong><\/p>\n

The divide over the fund comes after Republicans already abandoned $1 billion in security funding<\/a> for the White House, including for Trump\u2019s new ballroom<\/a>, as Democrats and some Republicans<\/a> questioned using taxpayer money for the massive project at a time of economic hardship. Besides the settlement, Democrats had planned to force Republican senators to vote for or against the ballroom money.<\/p>\n

Left in the legislation is funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, which Democrats have blocked for months in protest of the administration\u2019s immigration enforcement crackdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Republicans are using a complicated budget maneuver<\/a> called reconciliation to fund the agencies through the end of Trump\u2019s term without Democratic support. Still, success requires GOP unity and Trump\u2019s eventual signature.<\/p>\n

Democrats say they hope their Republican colleagues continue to stand up to the White House. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said last week that he thinks the settlement fund is \u201dprobably one of the most corrupt things that we\u2019ve ever seen an American president do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is \u201ca bridge too far for some of my Republican Senate colleagues,\u201d Peters said. “I hope they realize that what was done is simply unacceptable and that they\u2019ll stand firm.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Steven Sloan, Joey Cappelletti and Kevin Freking in Washington and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE – Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., speaks at the Hanwha Philly Shipyard for a cristening ceremony Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo\/Matt Slocum, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Matt Slocum, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo\/Gabriela Passos, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Gabriela Passos, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Acting
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche answers questions at an event where federal prosecutors announced charges against former Cuban President Raul Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes operated by Miami-based exiles, Wednesday, May 20, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – The seal of U.S. Department of Homeland Security is seen before a news conference at ICE Headquarters in Washington, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during the Senate Republican policy luncheon news conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)(AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.) WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A standoff between the White House and the Senate remains unresolved after Republican senators defiantly left town 10 days ago without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-131429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131429"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=131429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}