President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans are headed for a showdown over the administration’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” — with no clear resolution in sight.
When the Senate skipped town last week and punted on an immigration enforcement reconciliation bill, a major reason for the delay was the deep GOP discontent with the fund and concerns that Republicans would support Democratic amendments to block the proposal.
Now, as senators prepare to return next week, it’s unclear how Trump or Senate Republican leaders plan to navigate the reconciliation bill and a slate of amendments that could be adopted to effectively neuter the fund.
Senate Republicans seem to think it’s on Trump to find the votes for the fund if he wants the money.
“They were the ones who created this,” a senior Senate GOP aide told MS NOW on Wednesday. “It is very clearly a problem with our members. And our members believe it is theirs to fix.”
The senior staffer, who requested anonymity to discuss the internal dynamics, said GOP senators are “still waiting to see what, if anything, the administration comes back with.”
In the meantime, Senate Republicans have raised a range of options on how to proceed, the aide said, including eliminating the program altogether, giving Congress more of a say over who’s appointed to the commission overseeing the fund, getting the judicial branch involved in the process, and creating concrete standards for eligibility to benefit from the fund.
The last point has been particularly pressing for lawmakers, as many raise concerns about individuals who violently stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, receiving funds from the program.
But finding a fix won’t be so easy — for two major reasons.
First, Republicans have to craft an amendment that will satisfy their ranks, a tall task as senators air different grievances and make different requests.
“Every member is going to have their own interpretation of what satisfies their concerns,” the senior Senate GOP aide said.
And second, Republicans will be operating under the pressure of Democrats, who are vowing to force votes on their own amendments that — if successful — could jeopardize Trump signing the reconciliation package into law.
A separate Senate GOP aide noted that, because part of the reconciliation package is under the jurisdiction of the Senate Judiciary Committee, an amendment pertaining to the anti-weaponization fund would likely be deemed as germane, making it subject to 50 votes rather than 60 — a gamechanger for getting it adopted.
Last week, before GOP leadership scrapped plans for the vote-a-rama, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said “the very first amendment” he’d offer during the session would be to block the “slush fund.”
“Trump’s nearly $2 billion dollar MAGA slush fund is the most blatant act of corruption in American history,” he wrote on X.
“Trump doesn’t have to pay his taxes, but he’s more than happy to put your tax dollars in the pockets of his cronies, criminals, and cop-killing insurrectionists,” Schumer added, previewing the Democratic attacks that Republicans fear will come back to haunt them and the president.
The challenge for Republican leadership, this aide said, will be writing a GOP consensus amendment that satisfies moderate senators enough that they won’t also support a Democratic-led amendment.
The risk has become particularly pronounced in recent days as the “YOLO Caucus” — members untethered by the pressures of reelection and Trump’s embrace — grows on Capitol Hill.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, could be the newest member of the group, after he lost his primary on Tuesday to Trump-endorsed challenger Ken Paxton. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., seemed to join the caucus last week, following his primary defeat by two Trump-aligned candidates. And Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has been perhaps the loudest member of the crowd, after he announced his retirement following a bitter fight with Trump.
He called the $1.8 billion fund “a payout pot for punks.”
Those Republicans are joined by Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine — noted moderates in the Senate GOP conference — and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the Libertarian-leaning Trump critic who frequently bucks the party.
Republicans are clear-eyed that, as the YOLO Caucus grows, the lives of every Republican are likely to become more difficult on Capitol Hill.
“That is going to be a complicating factor for the rest of the year,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz” last week, after Trump endorsed Paxton over Cornyn.
“I don’t envision suddenly anything becoming hunky dory and their being happy,” Cruz said of Cornyn, Cassidy, Tillis and Paul. “Like that dynamic, for 2026, the rest of the year, we’re going to have interesting challenges.”
He’s not wrong.
But as Cruz has noted himself, opposition to the $1.8 billion fund is much larger than just a few sour Republicans.
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Yes, Tillis has been more outspoken than most about the proposal — he called it “stupid on stilts” during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” over the weekend — but roughly two dozen Republicans spoke out privately against the fund last week when acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with the Senate GOP conference.
Cruz said the gathering featured “fireworks at an epic level.”
“It’s one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate,” he added on his podcast. “There were a lot of Republican senators who were just pissed.”
The Texas Republican, who said he’s supportive of the fund, recalled “at least half” of the 45 senators in the room “blasting” and “screaming at” Blanche.
“Firey does not begin to cut it,” he added.
During the meeting, Cruz said Blanche assured Senate Republicans that Trump and his family members aren’t eligible to receive money from the fund, in addition to individuals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Those assurances, however, didn’t cut it for several Republicans.
Immediately after the meeting, Collins, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, told reporters she spoke to Blanche about individuals who assaulted law enforcement potentially receiving payments. She still wanted more information.
“I did raise that issue, and that seemed to be what he was saying, but we haven’t seen language,” she said.
Hours after the meeting, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wrote in a statement that “the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong — Take your pick.”
As opposition mounts, Senate Republicans are still waiting on the White House to make a move so they can then evaluate the best path forward.
“We’re just kind of in wait-and-see mode,” the senior Senate GOP aide said. “And then once we figure out what it is that they can and are willing to do, I think that’s probably when we get a better temperature over here in terms of what gets us to 51 votes.”
They may be waiting a while.
On Friday morning, less than 24 hours after Senate Republicans sounded off to Blanche, Trump doubled down on the fund, signaling that he has no plans to back down.
“I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward. I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!”
But it’s not just words. Upping the ante, the White House has indicated that Trump could veto the reconciliation bill if it excludes his priorities, like the $220 million for security at the East Wing ballroom, and includes restrictions to the anti-weaponization fund, a Senate Republican told MS NOW, a threat that could derail the GOP’s agenda.
A GOP senator, who was similarly granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations, said the veto threat has been explicitly made with regard to the anti-weaponization fund changes. (Asked about this reporting, a WH official told MS NOW it was “not accurate.”)
Whether Trump is especially dug-in on the fund or not, senators are gearing up for a bitter fight. And some are reflecting on the fact that, while the current battle was avoidable, it’s only set to get worse.
“Here we were trying to move quickly on an administration priority, in terms of funding immigration enforcement and border, and there was I think a feeling that that effort was undercut by this, what is extraneous to the underlying issue,” the senior Senate GOP aide said.
“That, plus the Cornyn stuff, plus coming off of Cassidy. It was just kind of a perfect storm of frustrations,” this person added. “If they had not announced this fund when they did, this bill would probably already be law.”
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.