Senate Republicans revolted Thursday against President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” aimed at compensating people who claim they were politically persecuted by the Biden administration — possibly including rioters who carried out the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.
After a closed meeting at which GOP senators reportedly pressed Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the compensation fund, lawmakers said they were delaying a vote on a bill that would fund federal immigration enforcement for the rest of the Trump administration.
Senators questioned Blanche about who would be eligible for the money and whether Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom were convicted of assaulting police officers, would be eligible for government payments, The Washington Post reported, citing Republican aides familiar with the meeting.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters after the meeting that Trump administration officials “need to help with this issue because we have a lot of members who are concerned.”
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Trump had demanded that senators take up the immigration funding bill — part of a filibuster-proof package that would not require Democratic support — before they began a week-long vacation. It is not clear now when the bill might come up for a vote.
The compensation fund was included in a settlement that Trump reached with the Justice Department this week that resolved his $10 billion lawsuit over a leak of his tax documents by an employee of the Internal Revenue Service. The settlement also prevents the IRS from continuing investigations of past tax returns filed by Trump, his family or his business.
The decision to delay the immigration funding vote is the latest indication of growing dissension among some Senate Republicans. Already, they had made it clear they would abandon a plan to amend the immigration funding bill to include $1 billion in security for Trump’s White House ballroom project.
Arch plans going forward, with or without Congress
Despite the congressional pushback to the ballroom project, the administration reportedly plans to move forward with Trump’s proposed 250-foot triumphal arch without seeking new approval from Congress.
The Washington Post reported the administration is relying on congressional action taken more than a century ago to justify the project.
Survey work and testing have already begun at Memorial Circle, the planned site for the arch.
Federal law, however, treats Memorial Circle as protected land, and monuments there generally require congressional authorization. Two sources familiar with the matter told the Post the administration does not intend to seek that approval.
Instead, administration officials are leaning on a 1924 federal commission report tied to the design of the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
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The National World War I Memorial, completed in 2024, was the most recent monument in Washington, D.C. The newest major presidential memorial was the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, dedicated in 2020. Both structures received congressional approval.
Congress ratified that plan in 1925. It called for two 166-foot columns topped with statues on Columbia Island as part of the broader bridge design. The bridge itself was built, but the columns never were.
The administration now argues that the proposed arch falls under that earlier authorization.
“Congress authorized the arch project when it approved the design set out in Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission’s report,” a Justice Department filing said, according to The Post.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum made a similar argument before the Commission of Fine Arts, saying Trump sees the country’s 250th anniversary as an opportunity to finally complete what he described as a long-unfinished vision for Columbia Island.
Bergum also argued the proposed 250-foot arch expands on the original concept rather than creating something entirely new.
Critics challenge legal argument
Opponents have rejected that interpretation.
Wendy Liu, an attorney with the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen Litigation Group, called the argument “absurd.”
Public Citizen is representing military veterans and a historian who are suing to try to stop the project, arguing a structure of that size would obstruct views of both the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, also argues that Congress must authorize the project.
“The fact that they’re trotting out this tortured argument that a 100-year-old authorization for something totally different satisfies a law today is laughable,” Huffman, D-Calif., told the Post.
Round out your reading
- Plea bargains keep America’s courts running. Guilt or innocence barely matters.
- Trump says the media isn’t covering one of his biggest accomplishments. We checked.
- Mike Lindell denied MyPillow was hacked. Its private data is now online.
- Red meat allergy rises with ticks as HHS targets Lyme disease, alpha-gal syndrome.
- We’re building a new Straight Arrow. Help us shape our future by taking our survey.
