{"id":184,"date":"2026-06-04T21:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=184"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:42:16","slug":"immigration-budget-bill-off-to-a-slow-start-in-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"Immigration budget bill off to a slow start in Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A GOP reconciliation bill for immigration enforcement survived its first key test Thursday as the Senate kicked off its amendment \u201cvote-a-rama\u201d amid bipartisan anger over a Justice Department \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund.<\/p>\n

Read more At the Races: Tricks of the trade<\/a><\/p>\n

On a 49-50 vote, the Senate rejected a procedural motion by Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., to send the bill back to the Judiciary Committee, a move that would have effectively killed it. Schumer was seeking to use that maneuver to push for a prohibition against what critics called a nearly $1.8 billion \u201cslush fund\u201d for Trump loyalists who broke the law.<\/p>\n

While some Republicans want to prohibit or restrict the fund through legislation, they proved unwilling to derail the entire bill. Still, three Republicans facing reelection this year \u2014Susan Collins of Maine, Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska \u2014 supported Schumer\u2019s motion.<\/p>\n

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who lost his reelection bid in the primaries in large part thanks to President Donald Trump\u2019s opposition, is another vocal critic of the \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund and wants to see a prohibition written into law. He held back his vote on the Schumer motion for much of the extended period the tally was held open, before eventually voting against it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want this to be a Republican-led solution,\u201d said retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a leading GOP critic of the fund, before opposing Schumer\u2019s motion. \u201cI\u2019m not going to move on a Democrat motion.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Tillis then offered his own amendment to block the fund by diverting the money to fraud enforcement efforts.<\/p>\n

That effort, too, was rejected by a lopsided margin of 15-84. Democrats said the Tillis amendment wouldn\u2019t actually prohibit the fund and would likely create a slush fund by another name, under the guise of fraud enforcement.<\/p>\n

GOP leaders maneuvered to make adoption of such amendments more difficult when they stripped $1.46 billion in Justice Department funding from the bill. That move meant an amendment on the Justice Department fund would no longer be considered germane to the bill and would require 60 votes to overcome a procedural objection, instead of just a simple majority.<\/p>\n

More amendments on the way<\/h2>\n

That defeat was hardly the end of the fight over the anti-weaponization fund, however.<\/p>\n

Read more You can\u2019t always get what you want, politics edition<\/a><\/p>\n

The vote on Schumer\u2019s motion had to be held open for about three hours on the floor as Republicans used their leverage to negotiate for amendments they were seeking.<\/p>\n

Besides Tillis, other wary Republicans have filed a range of amendments. Cassidy filed a similar amendment that would prohibit payments from the Justice Department fund.<\/p>\n

A second Cassidy amendment would nullify a settlement agreement announced when President Donald Trump withdrew his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns. That agreement forbids tax audits of the president. And a third amendment would prohibit such settlements in the future.<\/p>\n

Other GOP amendments filed include:<\/p>\n