The U.S. Department of Justice is temporarily backing down from its plan to launch a $1.77 billion “anti-weaponization fund” after a federal judge issued a short-term restraining order.
Congressional Democrats, however, vowed Monday to bring forward legislation permanently banning the fund, forcing Republicans to vote on an issue so politically toxic it derailed the advance of their $72 billion budget reconciliation bill in May.
“If [President Donald] Trump and Republicans are truly abandoning this corrupt scheme, they should have zero problem banning it in law,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., posted Monday afternoon on social media. “This week, Senate Democrats will push legislation to ban this slush fund and ensure no president can ever do this again. Trump’s word is nowhere near enough.”
In its statement Monday, the DOJ said it disagreed “strongly” with Virginia-based Judge Leonie Brinkema’s decision to block the creation of the fund until June 12.
The money – sourced from Trump’s settlement with the IRS after he sued the agency for the leakage of his 2019 and 2020 tax returns – would support people claiming that the former Biden administration unfairly targeted them for political or ideological reasons.
Rather than promising to drop the fund altogether, the DOJ simply stated it “will abide by the Court’s ruling,” which expires in less than two weeks.
“You don’t get credit for complying with a temporary court order,” Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said in response to the DOJ’s announcement. “Trump’s scheme to rob American taxpayers won’t be dead until Congress bans it.”
Although Republicans’ political troubles will continue, the DOJ’s decision may sway enough Republican holdouts in the Senate to support the $72 billion bill funding immigration enforcement agencies.
The party-line bill, which funds ICE and U.S. Border Patrol for the next three years, needs only a majority vote to pass the Republican-controlled Senate.
It was set to do so until the DOJ unveiled the “anti-weaponization fund,” causing Republican senators to deadlock over whether they should attach restrictions on the controversial fund to the reconciliation bill.
Several Republican holdouts have expressed optimism over the DOJ’s Monday announcement, though none have publicly commented on how they will vote. Republican leadership is hoping to get the bill to Trump’s desk by Friday.
