Republican senators set the stage for a fight against President Donald Trump’s agenda as they left for a five-week recess, Politico reported.
As GOP senators adjourned until September, they passed a bill aimed at averting a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year, but first they took aim at demands from the Trump administration and MAGA loyalists, according to Politico.
The Senate funding bill took aim at the Trump administration’s controversial plan to put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants, Politico reported, warning that lawmakers are already expecting a year-end “brawl.”
The House hasn’t acted on its funding bill, as an Oct. 1 shutdown still looms.
Sen. Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she will “continue to oppose” the Trump administration’s plans “because I think they politicize the grants process, and I don’t want that to occur.” However, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told reporters that he’s going to “fight like hell” in December to carry through the Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the federal grant process.
The Senate notably also adjourned without passing Trump’s SAVE America Act despite his repeated calls to get it done before the midterms.
The funding bill accepted language from Democrats that prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol from getting new funding from it, according to Politico. House Republicans are expected to take a hardline against the provision, even though Republicans approved $70 billion in funding for those agencies earlier this year, Politico reported.
Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL) said in an interview that keeping ICE and Border Patrol from getting any money from the new federal funding bill “could be a dealbreaker,” and that he’s “not a fan” of what the Senate wrote. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) agreed, saying, “I do not like the Senate language” and “I would want to know what the president thinks.”
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