Raskin calls – House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin said a proposed $1.776 billion compensation fund tied to a potential Trump-IRS settlement is an unconstitutional “political slush fund,” and warned Congress would face legal and legislative challenges if th
When House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin heard talk of a potential Trump-IRS settlement that would produce a large compensation pot, he reacted with a sharp warning: he called it an illegal, unconstitutional “political slush fund.”
Raskin. a Democrat from Maryland. said only Congress can appropriate money and argued that lawmakers never voted to create the Department of Justice’s planned $1.7 billion political slush fund.. “Only Congress has the power to appropriate money. and Congress never voted on creating this $1.7 billion political slush fund at the Department of Justice. and Congress would never pass that. ” Raskin said in an interview carried on Sunday.
He also argued the arrangement would run outside constitutional limits even if Congress tried to act. “This is just an invention on his part, but even if Congress wanted to do it, I think it’s clearly unconstitutional on a number of grounds,” Raskin said.
Raskin’s remarks come as attention has focused on a potential deal involving President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service.. The president is expected to drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for the creation of a $1.776 billion fund. intended to pay settlements to individuals who say they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration. according to individuals familiar with the matter.
Raskin said the plan is designed to keep political spending off-budget.. “We know that the president wants to keep setting up these political slush funds,” he said.. He added that it would be “outside of the Constitution” and “outside of congressional spending power. ” calling it “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”
Under the proposed structure. a commission overseeing the compensation fund would have authority to settle claims brought by nearly 1. 600 individuals charged in connection to the Jan.. 6 attack on the U.S.. Capitol and entities associated with Trump himself.. Raskin said compensating the now-pardoned Jan.. 6 rioters would violate the Fourteenth Amendment.
“When you look at Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment. it says that no money can be spent by the federal government for the purposes of paying for insurrection or rebellion. ” Raskin said.. “So. to the extent that he wants to give a million dollars to each of 1. 600 pardoned rioters and insurrectionists. we think that that’s an unconstitutional use of money.”
The pattern in Raskin’s argument is consistent: he links the proposed fund’s creation to a supposed bypass of congressional authority over spending, then pairs that claim with the constitutional restriction he says applies to payments tied to insurrection.
Raskin said Congress should stop the fund from moving forward, and he suggested Democrats would not be waiting on the sidelines if legal action becomes necessary. Asked whether Democrats would file lawsuits as well, he said, “Undoubtedly, we will.”
He said Democrats would also focus on Congress’s own role.. “But remember, we are the Article I branch.. We have the power over spending, and so we have to assert our spending power to block this,” Raskin said.. “If our Republican colleagues have any respect for the Constitution and the powers of Congress. they will move to block it.”
Jamie Raskin House Judiciary Committee IRS lawsuit Trump-IRS settlement compensation fund political slush fund unconstitutional Fourteenth Amendment Jan. 6 pardons congressional spending power Article I