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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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Three Republican senators voted in favor of permanently banning President Donald Trump's $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund on Thursday, but the Democratic proposal failed to gain enough support to pass.
The 50-49 defeat for Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's amendment came as part of the Senate's debate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security—another contentious issue that lawmakers have struggled to agree on for months.
The Department of Justice last month announced the fund for those who felt they had been unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration, leading to concerns on both sides of the aisle.
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Further votes on the fund are expected.
GOP Senators Who Voted Against the Amendment
Most Republican senators stuck to the party line and voted against Schumer's effort to permanently ban the fund as part of the reconciliation package.
The nays were:
Three GOP senators—Susan Collins of Maine, Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska—backed the proposal.
Schumer, of New York, said on the floor ahead of the vote, "My very first amendment offers Republicans a choice: Do you support Donald Trump's $2 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund, or do you want to protect the American people and their paychecks by outlawing this criminal, crony, cashback program permanently?"
Latest On Trump's Anti-Weaponization Fund
The fund was created as part of a settlement between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Trump to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over leaked tax returns.
In exchange for dropping the case, the DOJ established the fund, which would allow individuals who claim they were victims of government “weaponization” to apply for compensation or formal apologies through a commission reviewing claims through 2028.
The DOJ described the fund as a "systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare." Trump and his allies have argued that Biden-era law enforcement unfairly targeted conservatives, including through cases involving Trump and some people charged over January 6.
On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the fund, with Blanche then saying it would not move forward.
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ICE and CBP Funding: What To Know
Meanwhile, the $70 billion funding package for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection remains far from approval, with multiple amendments set for debate.
Democrats have repeatedly fought efforts to further fund ICE and CBP, which both got major funding boosts in last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis in January.
The party has called for greater scrutiny of ICE agents and policies, seeking to include this in amendments to further funding proposals.
Republicans are using the complicated budget reconciliation process to pass the three-year budget and avoid the filibuster, but it still takes time because of the need to vote on various amendments.
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