Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer laid out a plan on Monday to block President Donald Trump’s controversial $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that is aimed at providing compensation to those the Trump Administration deems to have been wronged by the federal government.
“This week, Senate Democrats will launch a coordinated effort to kill the slush fund before one cent goes out the door,” the New York Senator wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter, in which he called the fund Trump’s “most brazen act of self-dealing” and “one of the most corrupt schemes ever launched by a president.”
Schumer said that Democrats would “be ready with amendments to shut the fund down” if Republicans again seek to use budget reconciliation—an expedited process for considering legislation under which Congress can pass spending-related bills with a simple majority—to push through a package funding federal immigration agencies, as they are expected to do later this week.
“If they try to bury the issue, we will force them to the Senate floor. If they try to sneak behind appropriations, we will fight them there too,” the Minority Leader continued.
The Department of Justice announced the creation of the anti-weaponization fund last month as a part of an agreement to settle Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The move has drawn backlash from both sides of the aisle, and pushback in the courts.
Critics have noted that the fund could be used to benefit Trump allies who were prosecuted under the Biden Administration, including the hundreds of people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021—a possibility that top Trump Administration officials have declined to rule out.
When asked at a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing last month whether members of far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers could be eligible for payments under the fund, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who described the fund as “a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress,” said that “anybody in this country can apply.”
Last week, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Administration from proceeding with any potential payouts using the fund for at least two weeks and scheduled a hearing on June 12 for arguments over whether to extend the order.
Two officers who helped protect the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots have also sued the Trump Administration to block the fund. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that the fund is “illegal,” describing it as a “taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name.”
“This is corruption in broad daylight. It is self-dealing with a government seal. Donald Trump is turning the federal government into his own piggy bank,” Schumer wrote.
He said that “the courts will not be the only line of defense,” vowing to investigate all parties involved in the approval of the settlement, including the DOJ, the Treasury Department, the White House, and “who stands to benefit” from its payouts.
Across the aisle, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said on Monday that “we have a lot of members who are concerned” over the fund impeding progress on a $72 billion reconciliation package to fund DHS through 2029.
“It makes everything way harder than it should be,” Thune said.
Senators left Capitol Hill on May 21 without voting on the package amid disputes over the fund. During a reportedly heated closed-door meeting with Blanche ahead of the long Memorial Day recess, Republican lawmakers demanded the acting Attorney General put guardrails on the fund.
“Under what circumstances would it ever make sense to provide restitution for people who were either pled guilty or were found guilty in a court of law?” Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina asked, calling the fund a “payout for punks.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called the fund “utterly stupid” and “morally wrong.”
In the House, meanwhile, Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi joined together to introduce legislation last month to block the use of taxpayer money for the fund.
“Congress has a constitutional responsibility to protect taxpayer dollars and oversee federal spending,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “Taxpayer dollars will not become a discretionary payout fund. Transparency is not optional. Accountability is not negotiable.”
Schumer wrote in his Monday letter that simply taking steps to “manage” the fund is not enough.
“You do not fix a corrupt slush fund by promising to manage it better,” Schumer wrote. “You end it.”
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