WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday morning that Democrats would try to kill President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, forcing Republicans to vote to preserve the compensation money.
“This week, Senate Democrats will launch a coordinated effort to kill the slush fund before one cent goes out the door,” Schumer said in a “Dear Colleague” letter released Monday.
Schumer pointed to Republicans’ plans to use budget reconciliation again to advance their spending priorities, a move that would allow Democrats to bring up unlimited amendments as the Senate considers the bill.
“If Republicans return to reconciliation, we will be ready with amendments to shut the fund down,” Schumer wrote. “If they try to bury the issue, we will force them to the Senate floor. If they try to sneak behind appropriations, we will fight them there too.”
It’s unlikely, though, that Democrats will be able to stop the fund in the Senate. They can, however, force Republicans to record their votes on the compensation money, offering a line of attack for Democrats in the upcoming midterms, in which control of both chambers is likely to come down to a handful of seats.
In addition, three Democratic senators introduced a bill to kill the fund Monday. Adam Schiff of California, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan introduced the “Drain the Slush Fund Act,” which they said would “prevent taxpayer dollars” from being paid to Trump and his allies, including former Jan. 6 defendants.
The bill, said the senators, would also ban settlements or payments stemming from suits brought by the president or the vice president. It would be retroactive to Jan. 20, 2025.
Democrats have expressed opposition to the $1.8 billion fund, which the Justice Department created after Trump’s unprecedented settlement with the IRS related to his $10 billion lawsuit against it over the leaking of his tax information.
A federal judge in Virginia temporarily blocked the fund Friday after a Jan. 6 prosecutor and others sued last month. And another federal judge in Miami, who initially oversaw the case before it was closed, made the rare move of launching an inquiry last week, requesting a further briefing after 35 judges sent an amicus brief calling it a “fraud on the Court.”
On Monday afternoon, the Trump administration signaled it was backing off the fund. But Schumer said Democrats would not take their foot off the gas.
“Trump is claiming that the slush fund is dead for now. But Democrats will not stop until it’s well and truly buried and can never see the light of day,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “If Republicans try to force through their reconciliation bill again, the first amendment I will offer will be to ban the slush fund permanently, and forever.”
The fund has derailed Republicans’ plans to pass a bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol through Trump’s term after a contentious closed-door briefing last month between acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Senate Republicans about the fund’s scope and size.
Republicans left the meeting saying the Trump administration and the Justice Department would need to make changes to the fund before there would be the votes needed to pass the ICE and CBP bill with a simple majority in the Senate.
With his letter Monday morning, however, Schumer said changes to the fund would not be enough for Democrats.
“There will be no escape hatch,” he writes. “No fake guardrails or backroom promises to hide behind. No Justice Department announcement that makes this corruption acceptable.”
“No matter what Republicans do, we will force them to vote,” Schumer said.
