WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) — A $72 billion reconciliation bill that would have dramatically increased funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol stalled Thursday after a fierce division emerged among Republicans.
The vote reportedly had been planned for Thursday evening, but because the Senate adjourned for a planned one-week recess, Republicans were expected to miss President Donald Trump’s June 1 deadline to pass the bill.
The divide emerged as several GOP members opposed the addition of the “anti-weaponization fund,” to the bill. The nearly $1.8 billion reserve that would provide compensation to people deemed to be wronged by the Justice Department.
In a press conference Thursday, directly after the vote was stalled, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans are “so divided, so dysfunctional, so disorganized” that they are fleeing Washington.
“Their majority can’t melt down fast enough, not when the American’s financial situation is melting every day. Republicans are in complete disarray, they’re at each other’s throats,” Schumer said.
The “anti-weaponization fund” has faced significant bipartisan backlash since its announcement earlier this week. The decision to postpone the bill followed a two-hour meeting between GOP leaders and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Some Republicans reportedly left the meeting discontented by the proposal.
“People are concerned about paying their mortgage or rent, affording groceries and paying for gas, not about putting together a $1.8 billion fund for the president and his allies to pay whomever they wish with no legal precedent or accountability,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., in a post on X after the meeting.
Sen. Tom Tillis, R-N.C., has also voiced strong opposition to the “slush fund,” referring to it as “stupid on stilts,” when speaking to CNN. “Taxpayer dollars will compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, got convicted … and now we’re going to pay him for that? This is absurd.”
At a recent press briefing, Vice President JD Vance said that he would not rule out using the fund to compensate rioters from Jan. 6. He added that the Department of Justice would evaluate claims on a “case-by-case” basis.
Several GOP senators announced earlier in the week they would oppose the package to fund ICE and CBP if the bill included an additional $1 billion for Secret Service members assigned to Trump’s planned White House ballroom. Trump initially stated the project would be funded entirely by private donations.
“They don’t have a bid, they don’t have engineering, they don’t have architecture. … They just kind of made that number up,” Cassidy told Politico on Tuesday. “So from what I know now, I will not be voting for the ballroom fund.”
The ballroom fund was already a significant point of contention among Republicans before Thursday. However, pushback on the $1.8 billion compensation fund seemed to have caused the planned vote to collapse entirely.
Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last month that passing the reconciliation bill would be, “fast and focused,” stressing that it would not include any additional amendments unrelated to funding ICE and CBP.
The contents of the bill changed several times over the past 1 1/2 months with the inclusion of the White House ballroom funding, as well as the compensation fund.
In a Senate budget hearing Wednesday morning, committee members considered whether to pass the budget through the reconciliation process, with a slim majority voting to proceed.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., ssaid the final vote on the reconciliation package to fund ICE and CBP would occur late that evening or the following day.
Out of the total $72 billion package originally planned, $23 billion would have been allocated to CBP and $31 billion to ICE. This comes after the two agencies were given an additional $140 billion last year through the One Big Beautiful Bill, which further established their positions as the largest-funded law enforcement agencies in the country.
Debates around funding for the two agencies ignited the longest government shutdown in U.S. history just a few months ago. Although the shutdown ended last month, discussions about funding for ICE and CBP have been ongoing.
Ninety-six days later, the congressional deadlock continues. For the time being, no vote is scheduled on the bill.
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