Senate Republicans block bid to ban Trump settlement fund

Senate Republicans narrowly defeated a Democratic effort Thursday to permanently block President Donald Trump from creating a $1.8 billion settlement fund that critics in both parties have described as a slush fund for his allies.

The amendment, offered by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, failed 49-50 after a three-hour vote that exposed Republican unease over the proposal. Three Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Jon Husted of Ohio — joined all Democrats in support of the ban.

The vote came as Republicans tried to advance a $70 billion immigration-enforcement funding bill for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, two agencies central to Trump’s immigration agenda. Democrats used the Senate’s amendment process, known as a “vote-a-rama,” to force votes on a series of issues tied to the Trump administration.

“Amendment after amendment, vote after vote, Republicans are going to have to answer to the American people,” Schumer said.

The disputed “anti-weaponization” fund was created as part of a settlement following a lawsuit Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service, according to Al Jazeera. It was designed to provide payouts to alleged victims of politically motivated prosecution. The Guardian reported that the fund could issue financial settlements to people connected to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The proposal has divided Republicans, particularly as the party looks toward the November midterm elections. Several Republicans have warned that the optics could be politically damaging. The Department of Justice has since backed away from the plan, and acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers earlier in the week that the administration would not move forward with the fund.

Schumer said that was not enough and argued Congress should bar the money by law. “Republicans are trusting the word of Todd Blanche, who built a career on lying, the administration will just drop the slush fund,” he said. Schumer also noted that Trump had recently expressed his “love” for the fund and called it “so important.”

“Do any of us believe that Donald Trump, who has lied to us day in and day out, will be able to resist getting his sticky fingers in the slush fund when it would benefit himself and his family?” Schumer asked.

After Schumer’s amendment failed, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis offered a separate amendment that also would have prevented payouts from the fund but redirected the money to Justice Department anti-fraud efforts.

“This bill is unpopular. This administration has said they’re not moving forward with it. This is an opportunity for us to put it to bed and to also fund the fraud division, which I think is very important,” Tillis said.

Democrats rejected that approach. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon called it insufficient, saying, “Taking one slush fund and eliminating it and creating a new slush fund still under the control of the attorney general is not the way to go. The way to go is to get rid of these slush funds altogether.” Tillis’s amendment failed, with only 11 other Republicans and three Democrats voting for it.

The immigration funding fight stems from a broader standoff over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. The Guardian reported that Democrats refused in January to approve ICE and CBP appropriations without reforms, triggering a partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown that lasted 75 days. Al Jazeera reported Democrats had pledged not to approve further funding after the killing of two U.S. citizens during immigration operations in Minneapolis.

Republicans, who hold 53 seats in the 100-seat Senate, are using the budget reconciliation process to bypass the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. The bill had also been delayed by a Trump administration request for $1 billion in security upgrades for Trump’s White House ballroom project, but that request was dropped before voting began after the Senate parliamentarian ruled it would make the measure ineligible for reconciliation.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he could not predict the outcome of every amendment vote. “I can’t predict how it comes out,” he said. If Republicans remain unified, they are expected to pass the immigration funding bill late Thursday or early Friday, with the Republican-controlled House expected to consider it afterward.