GOP immigration bill runs into turbulence amid backlash to Trump’s $1.8 billion ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

By Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — The push to pass a $70 billion GOP immigration enforcement bill has temporarily stalled, with Senate GOP leaders stuck in talks with a trio of Republican holdouts who are so far refusing to vote down a Democratic attempt to kill the Trump administration’s controversial “anti-weaponization” fund.

Inside the Senate chamber, Majority Leader John Thune and his deputies have spent much of the last hour on the floor in talks with key Republicans over concerns with how to handle Trump’s fund to compensate people who claim to have been victimized by the federal government. One, Sen. Susan Collins, has already voted with Democrats on the effort. Three others have not yet voted on the Democratic push — forcing leaders to hold up a vote for more than an hour that they’d previously been confident would be defeated.

Those Republicans are Sen. Bill Cassidy — who has become a thorn in Trump’s side since recently losing his primary — and Sens. Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Jon Husted of Ohio, who are both in competitive races.

At several points in the conversation, Cassidy appeared to raise questions to Thune and his fellow leaders.

Senate Democrats forced the vote – which is still ongoing – at the start of a marathon voting session known as “vote-a-rama,” a process that allows votes on amendments the GOP immigration bill ahead of final passage. If an amendment seeking to kill the “anti-weaponization” fund is added, that could jeopardize the immigration enforcement funding package, a key Trump priority.

The vote puts Republicans in a tough spot given that many want to see the fund shut down, but don’t want to derail the broader immigration enforcement bill.

The immigration enforcement funding bill — which some Republicans predict will be Trump’s last major legislative victory before the midterms — has been stalled for weeks by an ongoing GOP rebellion over the “anti-weaponization” fund.

Critics say it would serve as a slush fund for Trump allies and could grant payouts to rioters who attacked police officers during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Following intense GOP pushback, the administration has sought to convince Congress that the fund is dead, with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche telling lawmakers earlier in the week that the administration is “not moving forward with the fund, period.”

Trump, though, has been far less clear, defending the fund on Wednesday and refusing to commit to scrapping it permanently.

“I’d have to ask the lawyers, I don’t know,” Trump told CNN Wednesday on whether the fund is fully dead or just on hold. “As far as I’m concerned, it was a beautiful thing.”

GOP leaders have been looking to defuse a potential revolt by a small gang of Republicans who have concerns about backing the immigration bill without explicitly killing the fund in writing.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said on Thursday that he will not vote for the immigration enforcement funding bill if it does not include an amendment to kill the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, meaning the legislation is likely in jeopardy after Republican leaders said that it would take more than a simple majority to amend it.

“No, I’m not going to,” Tillis told CNN when asked if he could support the bill without language to kill the fund. “I voted to get on it with the goal of potentially getting an amendment done or supporting some other members’ amendment.”

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CNN’s Manu Raju, Alison Main, Lauren Fox and Morgan Leason contributed to this report.