U.S. Senate Republicans voted to fund immigration enforcement efforts ahead of the long weekend, in an unprecedented political pushback against President Donald Trump.
On Thursday, the Republican-led House of Representatives was planning to vote on a $72 billion funding bill to further President Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
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But two recent decisions by the Trump administration have led to backlash from within the president’s own party.
The first concerned a newly announced “anti-weaponization” fund that the Trump administration announced Monday as part of a lawsuit settlement.
Mr. Trump had sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), part of his government, for the actions of a contractor who withheld his tax refunds around 2019.
Critics say the lawsuit presents a conflict of interest and that President Trump has the power to resolve grievances by negotiating with his own appointees.
Monday’s settlement set aside about $1.776 billion for payments to recipients deemed wronged by the government, an “anti-weaponization” fund that opponents say will become a cash cow for Trump supporters.
Senate Republicans summoned Acting Attorney General Todd Branch to the Capitol on Thursday to question his decision to greenlight a settlement funded by Justice Department funds that typically does not require Congressional approval.
Nebraska Sen. Don Bacon later suggested to reporters that the issue had swayed President Trump’s Republican support.
“He lost some support in the Senate,” Bacon said in response to Trump’s lawsuit. “He’s the plaintiff and he’s the boss of the defendants, so it stinks on the surface.”
Fellow Republican Sen. Thom Tillis similarly criticized the “anti-weaponization” fund. He is not seeking re-election in November’s hotly contested midterm elections after clashing with President Trump.
“I think it’s foolish to go on stilts,” Tillis told Spectrum News. “The American people will immediately reject this.”
Another source of backlash was President Trump’s request for $1 billion to build a White House ballroom.
President Trump previously promised that no taxpayer funds would be needed to complete the banquet hall. But in recent weeks, he has argued that the banquet hall is necessary for national security and has advocated adding a $1 billion price tag to the immigration enforcement bill.
But on Wednesday, Senate Republican leaders indicated that the ballroom tab would no longer be included.
If it had remained, social funds would have prevented Republicans from using the special legislative process, known as budget reconciliation, to pass immigration enforcement legislation with a simple majority.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the bill and its supplements were “supposed to be very narrow, targeted, focused, clean and simple, but this week things got a little bit more complicated.” “It makes everything more difficult than it needs to be.”
The Senate will return from recess in June. Thune said after the break the group will “pick up where we left off.”
Separately, House Republican leaders halted a vote on the War Powers Resolution, which would have required President Trump to seek Congressional approval for a U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
A similar bill passed the Senate earlier this week, and the House was scheduled to take its own vote Thursday afternoon. That vote has now been postponed until June, after the Memorial Day recess.
Democrats accused Republicans of political maneuvering.
“We voted without question, and they knew it,” Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters after the vote was canceled.
