Republican lawmakers signaled Wednesday their continued opposition to a proposed $1.8 billion payout fund for individuals who claim they were unfairly investigated by the government, as they brace to take politically charged votes on the issue.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (South Dakota) said most Republicans were reassured after acting attorney general Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the Justice Department would abandon its plans to create the “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
“I think that most of our members feel pretty satisfied with his comments — that they were in a public hearing under oath,” Thune told reporters Wednesday.
The dispute over the payout fund threatened Republican efforts to fast-track a reconciliation bill that mostly aims to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, as several lawmakers pushed to add language reining in the fund. Draft text of that bill released midday on Wednesday did not include any language about the fund.
On Wednesday, some Senate Republicans indicated they want to ensure the fund cannot move forward at any point.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) told reporters Wednesday he would file an amendment to “make sure it never comes back.” He added that if the fund is truly dead, President Donald Trump’s administration should support such a measure.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) echoed similar concerns, sharing a post on X Wednesday morning linking to a Wall Street Journal editorial that urged Congress to block the fund entirely. He highlighted a line from the piece that said, “The way to ensure the Trump retribution fund is more than mostly dead would be for Congress to put a stake through it.”
Despite Blanche’s comments Tuesday, some confusion reignited, after the Justice Department’s No. 3 official shared, and then deleted, a social media post in support of Congress creating its own version of the proposed fund.
Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. shared a social media post by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) suggesting that Congress create its own version of the fund. Woodward expressed support for the idea before later deleting his post.
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“There are many victims of the weaponized Biden Justice Department throughout this country. … I am proposing that we create a weaponization fund that will be available to those who can prove their claim against the federal government through the Federal Tort Claims Act,” Graham wrote on X on Tuesday evening.
“We’re on it,” Woodward said in his deleted response on X.
Neither Graham nor Justice Department officials responded to requests for comment about the idea of Congress creating its own version of the fund.
Blanche’s confirmation Tuesday that the compensation fund would be scrapped — allowing the Trump administration to assuage lawmakers’ concerns that taxpayer money might be used to compensate people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — had marked a rare moment in which congressional Republicans defied Trump.
The fund was created as part of a broad settlement in exchange for Trump dropping a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS over the leak of his confidential tax records in 2019. As part of that deal, the Justice Department also agreed to release Trump and members of his family from any pending or future prosecutions or investigations involving their previously filed tax returns. At the hearing Tuesday, Blanche confirmed that element of the settlement would remain intact, even with the dissolution of the fund.
The Senate is set to vote on the motion to proceed to the budget package Wednesday afternoon. This would open up debate on the bill followed by several votes, allowing senators to try to make changes to the budget package — including votes on the payout fund — via amendments before final passage.
Democrats have also vowed to offer measures blocking the administration from pursuing the fund in the future.
“The American people need the commitment to stop Trump’s corruption not only in writing, but codified in law,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (New York) said in a floor speech Wednesday morning. “I ask Leader Thune, I ask every Republican senator: If you believe the slush fund should be banned, if you believe Trump shouldn’t get tax immunity, then why wouldn’t you just vote yes and make sure we put it into law?” he added.
Any amendment vote on the fund risks gaining enough support to be adopted, posing a challenge for Republican leadership.
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Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this report.
