A budget-reconciliation bill aimed to pre-fund immigration-enforcement activities beyond the end of Donald Trump’s second term without addressing restraints on ICE or Border Patrol demanded by Democrats. Trump set a June 1 deadline for the bill to reach his desk, but the Senate planned to go home until June with the bill unfinished. The delay was linked to conflict over a proposed $1.8 billion DOJ “weaponization” slush fund intended to pay alleged victims of federal-agency actions. Senators showed bipartisan interest in restricting or eliminating the fund, prompting backlash from the White House and MAGA allies. Additional friction involved Trump seeking about $1 billion for “security” tied to a White House ballroom project, which the Senate parliamentarian rejected on technical grounds, and Trump reportedly urged leadership to remove the parliamentarian, which was refused.
"The original purpose was pretty simple: to pre-fund immigration-enforcement activities beyond the end of Donald Trump' s second term without addressing any of the restraints on ICE or Border Patrol that Democrats have been demanding for months. The timing could not be clearer: Trump himself announced on Truth Social that the deadline for getting the bill on his desk was June 1. With a Memorial Day recess on tap, it all had to get finished before the weekend. But instead, this happened:"
"Jake Sherman is probably right that the breaking point between Republican senators and the White House was the president's announcement of a bizarre, possibly illegal, and sure to be unpopular $1.8 billion slush fund to pay off alleged victims of Biden-administration "weaponization" of federal agencies like the IRS. There was instantaneous bipartisan Senate interest in adding language to the reconciliation bill restricting or even killing the slush fund, and it's likely that provoked a violent reaction from the White House and hardcore congressional MAGA folk."
"That's not the only problem that might have led to this the decision to ice the ICE funding bill. Trump was also demanding a cool billion in "security" money for his very unpopular White House ballroom project as part of the reconciliation bill. When the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian nixed the money on technical grounds, Trump reportedly told Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fire her, which would have created a huge firestorm in Congress. Thune refused."
#budget-reconciliation #immigration-enforcement #doj-funding #senate-parliamentarian #white-house-projects
Read at Intelligencer
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]