{"id":13384,"date":"2026-06-02T01:14:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T01:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/06\/02\/democrats-still-dont-trust-trump-on-the-1-8-billion-fund-and-neither-do-republicans-ms-now\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T01:14:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T01:14:35","slug":"democrats-still-dont-trust-trump-on-the-1-8-billion-fund-and-neither-do-republicans-ms-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/06\/02\/democrats-still-dont-trust-trump-on-the-1-8-billion-fund-and-neither-do-republicans-ms-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats still don\u2019t trust Trump on the $1.8 billion fund \u2014 and neither do Republicans – MS NOW"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Almost no one on Capitol Hill is convinced by the White House\u2019s offer to drop its plans for President Donald Trump\u2019s nearly $1.8 billion settlement fund, a pot of money that is fueling a growing crisis for GOP leaders.<\/p>\n

Instead, Democrats want to address the issue legislatively and Republicans may have no choice \u2014 and may also want some congressional clarity.<\/p>\n

Nearly two weeks after the planned fund sparked a GOP revolt against a key immigration funding bill, the Trump administration promised Monday to drop the payout proposal. A senior White House official told MS NOW the administration was halting its plans, and the Justice Department posted on X<\/a> it would \u201cabide by\u201d a temporary court ruling against the fund.<\/p>\n

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Those promises were too vague for critics in either party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to follow the law,\u201d Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said of the DOJ post vowing to follow a court order. \u201cWe all have to follow the law. That\u2019s why God made jails. Yeah, if you don\u2019t follow the law, you go to jail. It doesn\u2019t tell me much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called for a clear end to the plans for a fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that\u2019s going to solve this problem to get immigration funded and law enforced is for the president to do away with the weaponization fund,\u201d Grassley told reporters.<\/p>\n

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, questioned whether the DOJ plan to follow a roughly two-week court order would actually eliminate the fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he was open to voting for legislation to block the fund and said he would look into the White House\u2019s statements about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to be convinced,\u201d Cassidy told reporters.<\/p>\n

Democrats were even more skeptical about the White House\u2019s promise.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor five minutes,\u201d Sen. Patty Murray scoffed when asked about the plan to drop the fund. \u201cI don\u2019t believe that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s congressional search for meaning in a hazy set of promises from the White House is unusually urgent. A Republican bill with $72 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection is dependent on a resolution on the settlement fund. Democrats have vowed to force votes to amend the ICE funding bill to include a measure barring Trump\u2019s \u201cslush fund,\u201d as they call it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the White House said it was abandoning its plans, it looked like some of those Democratic amendments would get enough Republican support to be adopted. Now? It is possible those proposals get even more votes, with GOP lawmakers seeing a jailbreak forming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure the Democrats are going to give us an opportunity to vote on lots of different amendment ideas, but I think if the administration effectively shuts it down, and makes that very, very clear, then that to me should answer the question,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Monday.<\/p>\n

Thune left open the possibility of votes this week on the reconciliation bill.<\/p>\n

The nominal concessions from the White House do highlight the ability of Republican lawmakers to pressure the White House \u2014 at least, when they are motivated to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., met with Trump on Monday, and that meeting played a key role in the decision to drop the anti-weaponization fund, a source familiar with the matter told MS NOW. Johnson helped convince Trump to drop the proposal to help achieve a path forward for ICE funds. A House Republican told MS NOW that several GOP lawmakers leaned on Johnson to try to kill the fund.<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Monday that if Republicans take up the bill, \u201cthe first amendment I will offer will be to ban the slush fund permanently and forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told MS NOW she expects to debate the issue as part of the annual government-funding negotiations, as well as via the GOP\u2019s attempt to pass a one-time reconciliation bill.<\/p>\n

Of course, Republican critics of the proposal may seek a softer response, rather than a permanent ban. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said GOP conversations have centered on how to \u201cget some guardrails\u201d on the fund.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans may simply accept Trump\u2019s promise to drop the issue. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told reporters he spoke to a White House official Monday and was assured the administration is dropping the fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m comfortable,\u201d Scott said. \u201cThey told me they\u2019re dropping it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But more and more Democratic proposals to block the fund are springing up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said they were introducing a bill to block the fund \u2014 and any similar lawsuit funds created by future presidents. Kelly said he has discussed the fund with Republican colleagues who were concerned about it and said he would revive those conversations about the bill to block it.<\/p>\n

Schiff said he views the White House offer to drop the fund as a \u201ctactical retreat.\u201d Slotkin also said she is not buying it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you believe that a temporary two-week hold by this president means anything, I have a bridge I want to sell you,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n

There is also the unresolved issue of Trump and his family\u2019s immunity from IRS audits. As part of the president\u2019s decision to drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, the DOJ promised to create the nearly $1.8 billion fund and shield Trump and his family from audits \u2014 including a pending audit in which Trump is said to owe the IRS roughly $100 million.<\/p>\n

While Trump appears to be dropping the $1.8 billion fund \u2014 at least for now \u2014 the fate of Trump\u2019s get-out-of-audits-free card is more unclear.<\/p>\n

Democrats appear likely to offer amendments addressing that resolution during the upcoming reconciliation fight, as well as measures forcing votes on other Trump-related priorities, such as his proposed ballroom project.<\/p>\n

In all cases, Trump looks like he wants to avoid lawmakers weighing in \u2014 something Thune acknowledged Monday when he said the addition of language blocking the fund to the reconciliation bill could jeopardize Trump\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

Whether Trump\u2019s supposed promise is enough for Republicans remains uncertain, as does the fate of the underlying reconciliation bill. \u201cTo be determined,\u201d Thune said Monday night.<\/p>\n

Asked whether Republicans would try to move forward with the measure this week, Thune told reporters they would \u201cknow by tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\tJack Fitzpatrick covers Congress for MS NOW. He previously reported for Bloomberg Government, Morning Consult and National Journal. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State University.\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\tMychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jun. 1, 2026, 8:17 PM EDT Almost no one on Capitol Hill is convinced by the White House\u2019s offer to drop its plans for President Donald Trump\u2019s nearly $1.8 billion settlement fund, a pot of money that is fueling a growing crisis for GOP leaders. Instead, Democrats want to address the issue legislatively and Republicans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}