WASHINGTON — Objections to the Trump administration’s controversial anti-weaponization fund prompted Senate Republican leaders on Thursday to punt a vote on a GOP package to fund ICE and Border Patrol until June, two GOP sources familiar with the discussions told NBC News.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had aimed to get the reconciliation package through the Senate and onto the House before the Memorial Day holiday. But GOP senators emerged from a closed-door briefing with top Justice Department officials about the weaponization fund with more questions than answers, and it became clear that Republicans did not have consensus on moving forward.
The Justice Department has said it plans to make $1.776 billion in taxpayer money available for the fund. Given Democratic opposition, the only method of passing that through Congress would be to add it to the immigration “reconciliation” package, which can pass with only Republican votes.
“I think the administration is putting itself in a bad spot,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said after the private briefing.
The briefing lasted over an hour and half, and Republicans came out tight-lipped and appeared frustrated, saying they are working on how they could put guardrails on the anti-weaponization fund.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also announced during a closed-door lunch with Democratic senators that there would be no more votes in the chamber until June 1, said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
The Republican-only reconciliation bill would provide about $70 billion in funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, two agencies that were left out of the bipartisan government funding package earlier this year amid Democratic demands to impose restraints on Trump’s aggressive enforcement tactics.
Another wrinkle in Republicans’ efforts to pass the bill: $1 billion in funding requested by President Donald Trump for security measures related to his White House ballroom. It faces significant Republican resistance.
House GOP leaders were waiting for the Senate to send over the funding package. But with the Senate heading for the exits, the House is expected to follow suit. Congress plans to take off next week for the Memorial Day holiday and return to Washington the first week of June.
Trump has said he wanted Congress to send the ICE and border patrol funding package to his desk by June 1. But with lawmakers leaving town, it’s clear they will now blow past that deadline.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Ryan Nobles, Sahil Kapur and Katie Taylor contributed.
