Senate Republican leaders shelved plans to vote on a major immigration spending package Thursday, pushing the measure into June after internal fighting erupted over the Trump administration's controversial anti-weaponization fund.
The delay represents a rare moment of Republican discord on what should have been a straightforward party-line vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had hoped to pass the roughly $70 billion reconciliation bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol before the Memorial Day recess, clearing the way for House action before the long weekend. That timeline is now dead.
The sticking point: the Justice Department's plan to dedicate $1.776 billion in taxpayer money to an anti-weaponization fund designed to investigate alleged political persecution. GOP senators emerged from a lengthy closed-door briefing with top Justice Department officials expressing confusion and frustration. The Justice Department official struggled to answer questions, leaving Republicans without the clarity they needed to move forward.
"I think the administration is putting itself in a bad spot," Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said after the ninety-minute briefing. Republicans signaled they want guardrails on how the fund operates, but no consensus emerged on what those protections should look like.
The anti-weaponization initiative can only move through Congress as part of the immigration reconciliation bill, which requires only Republican votes. Democratic resistance makes any standalone legislation impossible. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced separately that Democrats would also halt voting until June 1, effectively clearing the calendar.
Complicating matters further: President Trump's request for $1 billion in White House ballroom security funding attached to the same package has triggered significant GOP pushback. House Republican leaders were waiting for the Senate to move first, but with lawmakers preparing to leave town for recess and not returning until early June, the House is expected to follow the Senate's lead.
Trump had publicly stated he wanted the immigration funding on his desk by June 1. That deadline will now be missed.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The fact that Republicans can't stay united on Trump's top priority spending shows the anti-weaponization fund is genuinely unpopular with the party, not just Democrats."
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