Republicans in Congress are holding a bill to fund ICE operations hostage in a mutiny over Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion vengeance fund.
After a stormy lunchtime meeting with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday, GOP senators were heading home for the Memorial Day recess without voting on a key $70 billion immigration enforcement package.
A House vote on the same budget plan is also likely to be shelved until June, after Speaker Mike Johnson’s planned White House meeting with Trump was axed.
The move to freeze the vote on ICE and Border Patrol funding has infuriated the president, according to sources.
Trump set a June 1 deadline for the reconciliation bill to be passed, but that now looks unlikely, as that is the day Congress resumes after the break.
Republicans were angered over the fund, created as part of a deal Trump reached with his own subordinates at the Internal Revenue Service, to compensate people who claim they have been the victims of politically motivated investigations.
Blanche has refused to rule out the possibility that Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump after being convicted of violent crimes could apply for payouts from the fund.
As many as 25 Republican senators reportedly attended the nearly two-hour meeting with Blanche. All spoke out against the fund, and the reactions were “incredibly hostile,” according to Punchbowl News.
Fox News said Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Cotton “erupted” at Blanche.
The lawmakers reportedly insisted that people convicted of attacking police officers should be barred from applying, and that there should be guidelines on how the five commissioners deciding on the payouts are selected.
“There will not be a vote today,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, who has spoken out against the “slush” fund.
“We will pick up where we left off,” added Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
Some Republican lawmakers were already up in arms over the escalating cost of Trump’s ballroom, which will now include a 6-story subterranean complex at an additional $1 billion in taxpayer costs.
“They have f----d this up on too many levels to count,” a senior Senate aide told Notus. “The only thing more toxic than demanding taxpayers foot the bill for a billion-dollar ballroom is demanding taxpayers give billions of dollars to J6 rioters.”
Johnson was already worried about not having the votes to pass the bill before the anti-weaponization fund scandal blew up this week, due to lawmakers’ commitments to attend graduations and weddings. Now, Republican representatives say there is almost zero chance the budget vote will pass before members head out for the break.
