Republicans' brawl over Trump's 'slush fund' isn’t over yet

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans' weekslong headache over what critics have called a "slush fund" for President Trump's political allies may have eased.

But it hasn't fully subsided – and it could still get worse before it gets better.

During a June 2 congressional hearing, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche promised lawmakers that the Justice Department was fully pumping the brakes on the nearly $2 billion reserve that caused what Sen. Ted Cruz called "fireworks at an epic level" within the Senate GOP.

"We are not moving forward with the fund, period," Blanche said.

Yet Democrats, eager to notch some tactical political wins ahead of the approaching midterm elections, are certain they've found a sore spot. They've promised to capitalize on the Republican Party family drama, exacting the little political leverage they currently have in Washington in hopes of splitting the GOP in ways that voters notice.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, has vowed to force a vote this week that would put Republican lawmakers on the record about the so-called "anti-weaponization" fund.

"The only way to end this scheme is abolish it by law," he told reporters, adding Trump "doesn't get to use your tax dollars to pay off MAGA insurrectionists."

DOJ fund 'right up there with crazy'

Two weeks ago, Senate Republicans spurned President Trump when they decided to leave Washington without passing a roughly $70 billion immigration enforcement funding bill. They'd hoped to quickly push the legislation through Congress before Memorial Day.

Their plan was upended by fierce intraparty uproar over the Justice Department fund, which was created as part of a settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit that Trump and his two oldest sons filed against the IRS. Many GOP lawmakers openly feared the fund, which critics have said is unprecedented, would be used to compensate Jan. 6 rioters who'd assaulted Capitol police officers.

"To provide restitution to somebody who assaulted a police officer and pled guilty to it?" said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina. "I’ve seen some crazy stuff before, but that’s right up there with crazy."

A Republican heart-to-heart on May 22 with Blanche turned into a Capitol Hill "screaming" match, according to Cruz. On an episode of his podcast, the Texas Republican called it "one of the roughest meetings I've ever had in the Senate."

After House Speaker Mike Johnson met with President Trump, the White House backed off on the fund. The Justice Department committed to following a court order halting its implementation. In a statement provided to USA TODAY following Blanche's June 2 testimony, the agency said the goal of the fund was to fix past wrongs, "but given the extraordinary misunderstanding of this, the DOJ is not proceeding."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, was confident Blanche's remarks were enough to assuage Republicans. On Wednesday, June 3, he hit the gas on the immigration enforcement bill by starting the voting process.

"We have Republican senators who understand that we succeed as a team, we fail as a team," Thune said.

Democrats' political window

There's a political cost, however, to proceeding with another multibillion-dollar cash influx for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.

Due to procedural rules in Congress, Democrats will have a small window to introduce amendments to the budget bill to try to officially end the fund. They could also attempt to slap restrictions on it, such as barring those involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection from receiving payouts.

Those efforts would likely face the Senate's 60-vote threshold. While that's a steep legislative hill, a sizeable group of Republican senators has openly complained about the fund, leaving open the possibility that Democrats could lure across the aisle an embarrassing number of GOP defectors.

"I tell Republicans, you're going to have to vote," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "Does anyone think that Blanche will keep his word to stop this grift?"

It won't be the only tough vote that Democrats, conscious of pre-midterm messaging, try to force. The last time Congress was in this situation, in April, Democrats offered a flurry of affordability-related measures. Two Republicans in key competitive races this November – Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Dan Sullivan of Alaska – both crossed party lines on some of those bills.

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY; Reuters

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.