GOP senators – Senate Republicans revolted Thursday over President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” delaying a vote to keep federal immigration enforcement funded for the rest of the Trump administration. The compensation plan is tied to a recent Justic
For the second straight day, Senate Republicans were supposed to move forward. Instead, Thursday ended with closed doors, pointed questions, and a vote put on ice—an open display of friction with President Donald Trump at the exact moment his allies want momentum.
Senate Republicans revolted Thursday against Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund.” The money is meant to compensate people who claim they were politically persecuted by the Biden administration. The plan could include rioters who carried out the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
After a closed meeting in which GOP senators reportedly pressed Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the fund, lawmakers said they were delaying a vote on a bill that would fund federal immigration enforcement for the rest of the Trump administration.
The questions weren’t abstract. Senators asked Blanche who would be eligible for the money and whether Jan. 6 defendants—some of whom were convicted of assaulting police officers—would receive government payments. The Washington Post reported those concerns and described them as coming from 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.” The message landed quietly but firmly: the Senate’s internal disagreements weren’t just personal. They were procedural, and they were now shaping the timetable.
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’s not clear now when the bill might come back for a vote.
The compensation fund. at the center of the revolt. was included in a settlement 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. That settlement also prevents the IRS from continuing investigations of past tax returns filed by Trump. his family or his business.
Delaying the immigration vote is the latest sign of dissension among some Senate Republicans. It follows an earlier break over a different Trump priority: they had already signaled they would abandon a plan to amend the immigration funding bill to include $1 billion in security for Trump’s White House ballroom project.
Underneath the procedural dispute is a simple political challenge for Trump’s team—how to align the White House’s demands with what GOP senators are willing to move on.
Even as Congress contends with that tug-of-war. the administration has been preparing major moves that are drawing their own legal fight. Despite 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.
But federal law 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.
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 the older 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.
Now, the administration argues the proposed arch falls under that earlier authorization. A Justice Department filing said. according to the Post. “Congress authorized the arch project when it approved the design set out in Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission’s report.” 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. Burgum also argued the proposed 250-foot arch expands on the original concept rather than creating something entirely new.
Critics reject that reasoning. 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 said Congress must authorize the project. He told the Post. “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.”.
Back in Washington’s legislative chamber. senators are still trying to reconcile Trump’s sweeping agenda with what they can safely pass—especially when the stakes include eligibility for federal payments tied to politically charged claims. and the possibility that the compensation could touch Jan. 6 defendants who assaulted police officers.
For now, the immigration funding bill remains delayed, and the timing is left unclear. The revolt over the “anti-weaponization fund” has already moved from messaging to leverage—one closed meeting. one stalled vote. and a Senate calendar that won’t move until someone answers what Blanche’s compensation plan means in practice.
Trump anti-weaponization fund immigration funding bill Todd Blanche Jan. 6 defendants Senate Republicans John Thune Memorial Circle arch Doug Burgum Public Citizen Litigation Group Jared Huffman