Senate rejects an amendment barring Trump’s controversial payout fund

The Senate rejected an initial effort Thursday to bar the Trump administration from creating a controversial fund to compensate people who claim they were wrongfully prosecuted or investigated.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jon Husted (Ohio) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) joined Democrats in voting for the amendment, which failed 49-50. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) did not vote.

The vote was the first of several expected attempts to amend legislation that Republicans are seeking to pass Thursday to fund federal immigration enforcement agencies — as a way to guarantee that the Trump administration cannot set up such a payout fund.

The administration’s decision to create the payout fund last month triggered a rare Republican revolt, derailing the party’s effort to pass legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies by June 1. Some Senate Republicans said they feared the fund could be used to compensate people convicted of attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and they refused to advance the bill until the administration addressed their concerns.

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, tried to quell those concerns Tuesday in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee, saying the administration had abandoned its plans to set up the fund. But President Donald Trump himself has not said the fund is dead, telling reporters on Wednesday that he was unsure of its fate.

“Republicans are trusting the word of Todd Blanche, who built a career on lying, that the administration will just drop this slush fund,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday on the Senate floor ahead of the planned vote.

The amendment votes are politically uncomfortable for many Republicans. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) held the vote open for more than three hours as he huddled with Sullivan and Husted, both of whom are facing tough reelection races.

A Fox News poll released Wednesday found former Democratic senator Sherrod Brown leading Husted 53% to 45% in Ohio’s Senate race. Collins, the only Republican senator who represents a state that former vice president Kamala Harris carried in 2024, also faces a challenging reelection race.

The amendment was the first of several expected attempts to amend the bill to ensure that the Trump administration cannot set up the fund, testing how concerned Republicans are about it.

The amendment would have sent the bill back to committee with instructions to add language safeguarding the Justice Department “from partisan political influence and corruption.”

Some Republicans have argued that the fund is politically toxic less than five months before the midterm elections and that the Senate needs to make sure it is not revived.

“Republicans should do the stump speech test on this issue, particularly the ones who are in cycle,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters. “‘I stand solidly behind an administration that wants to potentially provide compensation to people who assaulted Capitol Police officers. I stand fully behind that.’ Test that on the stump and see how it works out for you in November.”

The Senate also defeated an amendment from Tillis to bar the use of federal funds in connection with the fund, which Democrats argued did not go far enough. The amendment failed on a procedural vote, with 12 Republicans and three Democrats voting for it.

The administration agreed to create the fund as part of a settlement to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit that Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service over the 2019 leak of his tax records. The settlement also barred the Justice Department from prosecuting any potential tax crimes that Trump, his family or his companies committed before the agreement.

Democrats plan to offer amendments on that part of the settlement, which Blanche has said will remain in force, as well as the fund.

The Senate rejected an amendment from Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to bar the use of federal funds or private donations to build Trump’s proposed White House ballroom without congressional authorization. Six Republicans voted with Democrats to take up that amendment, which failed on a procedural vote.

The bill would send nearly $70 billion to two federal agencies: Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. The money would fund the agencies through the end of Trump’s term without going through the annual appropriations process, an unusual move that allows Republicans to avoid compromising with Democrats.

The bill is the culmination of a monthslong fight over government funding triggered by the killing of Alex Pretti by immigration enforcement agents in January during protests against the administration’s deportation operations in Minneapolis. Democrats refused to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE and CBP, unless Republicans agreed to impose new restrictions on federal agents.

The administration negotiated with Democrats for weeks, but the two sides failed to reach a deal. Democrats ultimately agreed to fund the department except for ICE and Border Patrol, leaving Republicans to fund those agencies without their votes.

Republicans are using a special budget process known as reconciliation to pass the bill with a simple majority, evading a Democratic filibuster.

Democrats have argued that the maneuver undermines the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation. Some Republicans also expressed concerns that it will erode the bipartisan appropriations process, but they have countered that Democrats’ intransigence gave them little choice.

“I hate that we’re having to use reconciliation to do this, but we have no other choice,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Budget Committee, said on the Senate floor.

Republicans control the Senate 53-47, meaning they can lose only three Republican votes on the final bill if every senator is voting. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) urged Republicans not to let Democrats’ amendments distract them from passing the bill.

“They are going to play so many games over the next eight, nine, 10 hours,” Moreno said on the Senate floor. “Bring it on. Because what we will do today is we will make certain that communities are safe in this country. We are going to fund immigration enforcement and Border Patrol, and I urge my Republican colleagues to stay united on that singular mission.”