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WASHINGTON — Objections to the Trump administration’s controversial “anti-weaponization” fund prompted Senate Republican leaders Thursday to punt a vote on a GOP package to fund ICE and the 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 on to the House before the Memorial Day holiday. But GOP senators emerged from a closed-door briefing with top Justice Department officials about the fund with more questions than answers, and it became clear that Republicans did not have consensus on moving forward.
Administration officials “need to help with this issue, because we have a lot of members who are concerned, obviously, about the timing, but also about the substance,” Thune told reporters after he canceled the votes.
Asked by NBC News how much the weaponization fund played into postponing the reconciliation vote, Thune replied: “Well, that’s a big issue.”
The Justice Department has said it plans to make $1.8 billion in taxpayer money available for the fund. Given Democratic opposition, the only way to pass 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.
Thursday’s briefing with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and others lasted over an hour and a half, and Republicans emerged tight-lipped and appeared frustrated, saying they are working on how they could put guardrails on the fund.
To ease GOP concerns, Justice Department officials had circulated a one-page fact sheet about the fund, explaining where the money would come from, who would oversee disbursements and who was eligible. The Justice Department said that as part of Trump’s legal settlement with the agency, the president, his sons and the Trump Organization would receive an apology but no monetary payment; they also cannot receive any payouts from the fund.
“This is about seeking accountability for all Americans who were victims of lawfare and weaponization: millions of Americans whose online speech was censored at the behest of the government, parents silenced at schoolboards, Senators whose records were secretly subpoenaed, churchgoers targeted by the FBI, and so on,” the fact sheet said.
“There is no partisan restriction: Democrats can submit claims, too,” according to the Justice Department.
The Republican-only reconciliation bill would provide about $70 billion for ICE and the Border Patrol, two agencies that were left out of the bipartisan government funding package 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 Trump requested 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 following suit, and it canceled Friday votes. 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 is clear they will blow past that deadline.
“It’s going to be important to execute on actually getting this thing done and across the finish line,” Thune said, noting that Congress still needs to renew a foreign spying program.
“It was something that was supposed to be very narrow, targeted, focused, clean, straightforward,” he said of the immigration funding package, “and it got a little bit more complicated this week.”
The Senate wasn’t the only chamber to abandon votes Thursday. House GOP leaders pulled an Iran war powers resolution introduced by a Democratic lawmaker that was scheduled for a floor vote.
The measure, which would direct Trump to remove U.S. forces from Iran that are not “necessary” to defending the U.S. and its allies from “imminent attack,” will instead come up for a vote immediately after the Memorial Day recess.
Asked whether Republicans would have lost the war powers vote if it happened Thursday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told NBC News: “Well, we just had some members that weren’t there for it who wanted to be recorded on it. So we’re going to be giving them that opportunity when we get back.”
Eight Republicans were missing Thursday during a vote series that was initially scheduled to include the war powers resolution.
The House failed to pass a similar resolution last week when the vote ended in a tie. Three Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats in favor of it.
A war powers resolution advanced in the Senate this week after Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., voted for it.
Frank Thorp V is a coordinating producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.
Brennan Leach is an associate producer for NBC News covering the Senate.
Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.
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