Senate rejects bid to block DOJ fund in ICE bill

The Senate opened a marathon voting session Thursday on a roughly $70 billion immigration enforcement bill, rejecting a Democratic attempt to permanently block a Justice Department fund that has split Republicans and drawn sharp criticism from Democrats.

Republicans are trying to pass the package through reconciliation, a procedure that allows them to bypass the 60-vote threshold normally needed to advance legislation and move ahead without Democratic support. The bill would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of President Donald Trump’s term.

The first major test came on an amendment from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., that would have sent the bill back to the Judiciary Committee with instructions to prevent money from going to the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. The amendment failed 49-50 after three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska — joined Democrats in support.

The vote exposed tensions inside the GOP. NBC News reported that Republican leaders held the vote open for three hours. CBS News reported that Husted, Sullivan and Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana did not vote for more than two hours while Cassidy appeared to negotiate with GOP leaders. Cassidy ultimately voted against Schumer’s amendment.

The Justice Department fund would provide taxpayer-funded payouts to people who allege the federal government was “weaponized” against them. Democrats and some Republicans have described it as a “slush fund” that could be used to pay Jan. 6 rioters and other Trump allies.

The Trump administration has sent mixed signals about the fund. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified before Congress this week that the administration is “not moving forward with the fund.” But Trump praised the idea Wednesday, telling reporters, “The weaponization fund, as far as I’m concerned, was a beautiful thing. I love it. I think it’s so important.”

Schumer said Democrats would keep forcing votes on the issue. “Trump’s slush fund is anything but beautiful — it’s heinous, and it won’t die until we permanently ban it by law,” he said Thursday. “With the whole country watching, Republicans will have to choose: either support the slush fund or ban it.”

A separate amendment from Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., to redirect the fund’s money to fraud enforcement failed 15-84, CBS News reported. Republicans voting for it included Cassidy, Collins, Husted, Sullivan, John Cornyn of Texas, John Curtis of Utah, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Todd Young of Indiana. Three Democrats — Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire — also supported it.

Tillis, who is retiring at the end of his term, said the fund was politically indefensible. “When you’re explaining, you’re losing,” he told NBC News. “There’s no way to explain the $1.776 billion fund. So, the only way you can explain it is explain that you got rid of it.”

Murkowski said she had discussed a legislative fix with Tillis. “I’m in the camp that wants to see it dead, dead, dead,” she said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., defended the bill as narrow and necessary. “It’s a simple bill,” he said. “It will do nothing more than fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the next three years.” Thune also said Blanche’s statement that the administration was not moving forward with the fund was “definitive.”

Democrats oppose funding ICE and Border Patrol unless Republicans agree to new limits on the agencies after officers killed two Americans in Minnesota, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Schumer also vowed votes on undoing a provision in Trump’s settlement with the IRS that bars future audits of him or his family.

The House is expected to take up the bill if it clears the Senate, though the timing remains unclear.