Trump's "anti-weaponization fund" torpedoes ICE funding deal
· Axios
$72 billion in funding for ICE and Border Patrol is now in limbo after GOP senators revolted against President Trump's $1.776B "anti-weaponization fund" on Thursday.
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Why it matters: The fund was dropped like "a bomb in the middle of a pretty well planned out reconciliation bill," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters.
Zoom in: The package for ICE and Border Patrol funding was on track to pass by the weekend.
- But senators left town without voting on Thursday after a heated two-hour meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
- "[T]hey need to help with this issue, because we have a lot of members who are concerned," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told Punchbowl News about the White House and the fund.
- "Somebody described it as a galactic blunder, and I think that's probably true," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told CNN.
Between the lines: The Senate spent the first few days of the week trying to decide what to do about the $1 billion for security upgrades related to the White House ballroom.
- As of Wednesday that funding had been stripped, Axios reported. But the Senate has yet to release text of the budget bill ahead of a vote-a-rama.
The bottom line: I'm not sure the fund should exist," said Sen. Bill Cassidy, who lost his Louisiana GOP primary on Saturday as part of Trump's revenge tour.