{"id":8586,"date":"2026-08-03T20:35:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8586"},"modified":"2026-08-03T20:35:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:35:19","slug":"how-senate-republicans-are-pushing-back-on-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8586","title":{"rendered":"How Senate Republicans are pushing back on Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just the anti-weaponization fund.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Republican Sens. Thom Tillis (North Carolina), left, and John Cornyn (Texas) are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund. (J. Scott Applewhite\/AP and Brandon Bell\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

In his second term, President Donald Trump has amassed an extraordinary amount of power while Republicans in Congress have mostly looked on.<\/p>

Read more Transgender federal workers sue government over health care cuts<\/a><\/p>\n

But Senate Republicans may be starting to push back. Two Republican senators put enough pressure on the Justice Department that, this week, acting attorney general Todd Blanche agreed to put in writing <\/a>that the department was rescinding Trump\u2019s \u201canti-weaponization\u201d legal fund popular with Jan. 6, 2021, rioters.<\/p>\n

Trump still has an extremely pliable Congress.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers have let him go to war with Iran<\/a> despite the Constitution giving Congress the power to declare war. (The House and the Senate<\/a> have both voted to limit Trump, but the administration has ignored what it argues are unconstitutional measures.) They\u2019ve acquiesced in allowing an outside group led by Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency<\/a>, to access sensitive data<\/a> in the federal government and dramatically cut federal agencies, despite Congress having the power to spend. They let Trump issue tariffs despite Congress having the power to tax. They\u2019ve funded Trump\u2019s mass deportation efforts for the next few years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly Trump is losing a bit of his iron grip on congressional Republicans, but whether it\u2019s a meaningful shift is unclear,\u201d said Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not doing anything about the ICE killings<\/a> or the grift and waste under his current Cabinet,\u201d she added, referring to fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minnesota by federal immigration agents.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting some of the ways Senate Republicans are starting to push back on Trump as he prepares for his final two years in office.<\/p>\n

Trump has been struggling for weeks to get his attorney general nominee confirmed by the Senate. Outgoing Republican Sens. John Cornyn (Texas) and Thom Tillis (North Carolina) threatened to vote against Blanche over concerns that he would greenlight the \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund, despite previously telling Congress it was shelved.<\/p>\n

Blanche is already serving in the job in an acting capacity, and on Sunday he formally rescinded the fund in writing. He also confirmed that a related deal shielding Trump and his family<\/a> from IRS audits covers only their past taxes.<\/p>\n

Just days earlier, Trump said he would \u201cpush hard\u201d<\/a> for the fund and wants Congress to approve legislation backing it.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s critics see Blanche\u2019s move as a fig leaf: Republicans got a written statement and no changes to the controversial tax immunity deal. In exchange, they are likely to approve Trump\u2019s former personal lawyer to head the government\u2019s entire prosecutorial apparatus. Blanche would serve alongside Trump loyalists leading the FBI, the Defense Department, national security agencies and the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving loyal and determined apparatchiks like them in positions of real power for the next two and a half years is not a good thing,\u201d writes William Kristol, a never-Trump conservative, in his newsletter the Bulwark.<\/p>\n

Trump has been demanding for months that Senate Republicans pass a strict voter-ID and voter registration bill ahead of the November midterm elections. A version has already passed the House, and the president has withheld bill signings, blasted Senate Republicans on social media and given a prime-time address to try to get the bill, called the Save America Act<\/a>, through the Senate.<\/p>

Read more House panel seeks censure of Rep. Chuck Edwards over conduct toward female staff<\/a><\/p>\n

But while a number of Senate Republicans support the Save America Act, they haven\u2019t budged on one important thing: getting rid of the filibuster <\/a>to pass it. Under filibuster rules, Democrats have enough votes to stop the bill from advancing. Republicans don\u2019t have the votes to get rid of the filibuster because many of them see it as a useful tool for when they\u2019re in the minority. \u201cIt\u2019s just a reality,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) said earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Senate unanimously approved legislation requiring the Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.<\/p>\n

Trump had spent months trying to prevent Congress from mandating the release, but Republican lawmakers felt a lot of pressure from their base to do something to require the Trump administration to be more transparent.<\/p>\n

The Senate acted only after Trump said he\u2019d sign the bill into law. The files have been a major political headache for the president almost his entire second term. An Economist-YouGov poll<\/a> in February found that half of Americans say they think Trump has been trying to cover up Epstein\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n

Trump has filled his Cabinet with people who mostly seem to agree with him and carry out his orders. But he hasn\u2019t gotten everyone he\u2019s wanted through the Senate. His first pick for attorney general, former congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew his nomination over Republicans\u2019 objections before the Senate even held hearings.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans have also derailed Trump\u2019s choices for key prosecutorial jobs, like election denier Ed Martin to be U.S. attorney for D.C., a prominent position. They also successfully pushed back on vaccine skeptic Casey Means to be the U.S. surgeon general.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans have also refused to heed Trump\u2019s calls to eliminate a tool in the Senate that has allowed Democrats to block some of his judicial nominations, most notably his former lawyer Alina Habba to be U.S. attorney in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

One of Congress\u2019s most critical roles is the power of the purse, to approve how taxpayer money is spent. But the Trump administration has tried numerous ways to make its own spending decisions, like mass layoffs at the Education Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some Senate Republicans are trying to push back. This week, they released a bipartisan spending bill that would prevent<\/a> the administration from withholding research funding that Trump politically disagrees with.<\/p>\n

Amber Phillips<\/i><\/a> writes <\/i>The 5-Minute Fix newsletter<\/i><\/a>, a quick analysis of the day\u2019s biggest political news. <\/i>Send her an email here<\/i><\/a>, or <\/i>ask a question<\/i><\/a> that could be featured in an upcoming newsletter.<\/i><\/p>

Read more Commanders\u2019 offense gets cooking and other observations from Monday\u2019s practice<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just the anti-weaponization fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Senate Republicans are pushing back on Trump - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8586\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Senate Republicans are pushing back on Trump - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s not just the anti-weaponization fund.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8586\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-03T20:35:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0b9039e95b992234b538ab1fa5bd5a39.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1137\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"758\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"How Senate Republicans are pushing back on Trump\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-03T20:35:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586\"},\"wordCount\":1069,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/6343ceeb377c8c2066c971d6ef3b5b83.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586\",\"name\":\"How Senate Republicans are pushing back on Trump - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/6343ceeb377c8c2066c971d6ef3b5b83.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-03T20:35:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8586#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/6343ceeb377c8c2066c971d6ef3b5b83.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/6343ceeb377c8c2066c971d6ef3b5b83.jpg\",\"width\":1137,\"height\":758,\"caption\":\"COMBINATION PHOTO: Sen. 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