WASHINGTON — Two expenses have divided Congress: The $1.77 billion “anti-weaponization fund” for U.S. Justice Department’s settlements and the $1 billion for U.S. Secret Service security at the new White House ballroom.
President Donald Trump’s two requests have sparked so much conflict inside the Senate’s Republican majority that they decided to start the Memorial Day recess earlier without passing the legislation.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, told Fox News there was confusion about the Justice Department’s fund.
“I think that there are, and will continue to be, a lot of questions around that, that the administration is going to have to answer,” Thune said.
Related document: Overview of the Department of Justice’s Anti-Weaponization Fund
The Justice Department’s fund would be used to pay settlements to claims by victims of politically motivated prosecutions, according to a memo.
“I am completely objecting to this,” U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania, said during CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
Fitzpatrick also told reporters on Wednesday, “We’re going to try to kill it.”
Vice President J.D. Vance defended the fund on Tuesday during a White House briefing.
“Republicans can apply for it. Democrats can apply for it,” Vance said. “If Hunter Biden wants to apply for this particular fund, he is welcome to.”
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, told CNN that he was concerned about criminal cases related to riots on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol.
“It sends a signal, ‘Hey, go breach the Capitol! Destroy the building! Assault police officers! You may even get compensated for it someday!’ That’s absurd,” Tillis told reporters at the Capitol.
Related story: Officers who defended Capitol from rioters sue to block payouts from $1.8B ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
Some Republicans are standing with the two police officers who defended the Capitol and filed a lawsuit to block the fund’s payouts.
“It incentivizes violence against law enforcement, against anybody actually that is a supporter, as long as you do it in Donald Trump’s name,” Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol police officer, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
With the rising cost of living becoming a top issue for voters ahead of the November midterms, some Republican lawmakers are uncomfortable.
“Half the country is living paycheck to paycheck. We shouldn’t be talking about ballrooms,” U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania, told CNN’s Manu Raju.
On Thursday, Trump seemed hopeful about the ballroom, which he said earlier this year would be funded entirely by donations.
“We are on time, on budget,” Trump said. “It’s going beautifully.”
The issues have members struggling to move forward on funding immigration law enforcement.
“We can do it when we come back,” Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican from Maryland, told Politico, adding that there was “no emergency about doing it by June 1, except the president had thrown that date out.”
Torres contributed to this report from Miami.
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