Fuming at Trump over ‘slush fund,’ Senate GOP skips town without passing ICE bill
WASHINGTON – I’m getting angry President Donald Trump After nearly $1.8 billion in Justice Department funding that could have compensated allies, Senate Republicans derailed a massive immigration bill and skipped town by early June.
Unrest about the so-called “proliferation fund” came to a head Thursday morning in a meeting with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. The Justice Department’s top attorney was summoned to the Capitol to address lawmakers’ concerns about what Democrats described as a “secret fund” that could distribute money to people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
“So the country’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who attack cops?” Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in a statement following the meeting. “Totally stupid, morally wrong; take your pick.”
Senate Republicans emerged blank-faced from their meeting with Trump’s former personal lawyer, Blanche. They soon decided to return home, gambling on a months-long budget vote to pour more than $70 billion into federal immigration enforcement agencies. Trump had originally ordered congressional Republicans to pass this funding by June 1. The new delay means they have almost abandoned this deadline.
Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC on May 21, 2026.
“Obviously our members have very legitimate questions,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, and acknowledged that GOP senators want to make sure DOJ funding is “appropriately ring-fenced.”
“This makes everything a lot harder than it needs to be,” he said later.
The sudden decision was a clear sign that hostility between Senate Republicans and the White House was intensifying. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, became freer representatives in the GOP conference after Cassidy lost his reelection campaign and Trump refused to endorse Cornyn, angering many of his longtime colleagues. The president also endorsed Cassidy’s primary opponent, preventing her from advancing to a runoff and turning her into a lame senator by January.
It all happened amid the sudden creation of the Justice Department’s controversial fund, and Thune was quick to say he was “not a big fan” of it.
The backlash is already jeopardizing the president’s legislative agenda in a midterm election year that will determine the success of the remainder of his second term.
“They’re stuck. They’re confused,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said of Republicans. “And it’s a show.”
Justice Department tries to silence senators
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) gestures as he speaks with reporters as he enters his office at the U.S. Capitol on May 21, 2026.
As Republican senators prepare to vote on immigration enforcement funding this week, some have begun to view the budget bill as a potential legislative tool that would put guardrails on Justice Department funding. Others, including Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, opposed the push.
“Why we would do anything else is beyond me,” he said.
In an effort to quell Republican unrest, the Justice Department sent a memo to lawmakers outlining restrictions on so-called “anti-proliferation” funding.
In the memo obtained by USA TODAY, the agency said even members of Congress could receive taxpayer money through the fund. Eligible Americans also potentially include “Americans whose online speech is censored by government order, parents silenced on school boards, senators whose records are secretly subpoenaed, churchgoers targeted by the FBI, etc.” may also include.
Quarterly reports on which Americans are receiving aid will be created and shared with Congress (but with corrections), the statement says. The fund will stop processing claims in 2028 and return any remaining money to the federal government.
The memo did little to ease the GOP’s concerns. The tense meeting ended with no concrete compromise between Trump administration officials and lawmakers.
“This will be a call for leadership,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas.
Contributed by: Reuters
Zachary Schermele is USA TODAY’s congressional correspondent. You can reach him via email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him at @ZachSchermele on X and @zachschermele.bsky.social on Bluesky
This article first appeared on USA TODAY: Furious at Trump over ‘gathering fund’, Senate GOP cancels ICE funding vote
