Senate Votes Down Bids to Kill DOJ ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund

The Senate voted down a bid by retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) to permanently block the Department of Justice from establishing a fund to pay people who claim to have been victims of government “weaponization.”

The weaponization fund, established as part of a settlement between President Donald Trump and the IRS, has received bipartisan pushback but failed to garner the 60 votes needed to pass. Only 15 senators voted in support of the amendment as part of a marathon vote series on a GOP bill (S.2) to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection for the rest of Trump’s term.

DOJ announced it was dropping the fund after a court blocked work on it, but lawmakers have sought to ensure it’s permanently shut down. The issue held up consideration of the immigration enforcement funding bill for weeks.

Democrats balked at backing the Tillis amendment over its $1.7 billion appropriation for anti-fraud activity.

Republicans batted down an earlier effort by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to send the whole bill back to the Judiciary Committee with instructions to prohibiting any judgment awards from going to the fund created by Trump’s settlement agreement. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jon Husted (R-Ohio), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) joined Democrats in support of the effort but ultimately fell short.