Senate Democrats unveiled a coordinated plan to stop President Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund,” arguing it is a nearly $2 billion “MAGA slush fund.” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and lawmakers including Adam Schiff, Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin are advancin
Senate Democrats are preparing for a fight that they insist can’t be delayed or disguised—one targeting President Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund” that they describe as a “MAGA slush fund” approaching $2 billion.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer laid out the strategy in a “Dear Colleague” letter released Monday. saying Democrats will use “a variety of strategies. from floor action to oversight” to block what he called President Trump’s “nearly $2 billion MAGA slush fund.” Schumer’s message was blunt about tactics he expected Republicans to try. If Republicans “return to reconciliation. ” he wrote. Democrats “will be ready with amendments to shut the fund down.” If Republicans “try to bury the issue. ” Schumer said Democrats will “force them to the Senate floor.” If they “try to sneak behind appropriations. ” he added that Democrats “will fight them there. too.”.
Schumer framed the effort as a refusal to let the proposal move through the Senate without a fight. “There will be no escape hatch,” he wrote. “No fake guardrails or backroom promises to hide behind.”
Alongside that campaign. a trio of Democratic senators introduced legislation on Monday aimed at shutting down the fund and preventing taxpayer dollars from being paid to the president or his allies—including people convicted of crimes or connected to the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The measure is called the Drain the Slush Fund Act, sponsored by Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.
Schiff. speaking when the bill was introduced. said Republicans will return to Washington to seek further funding for the fund and other priorities. and Democrats plan to “hold them accountable.” He also said Democrats want to make clear what they are trying to stop: “We will not allow a single payout from this so-called weaponization fund to be paid.”.
The push comes after a federal judge last week temporarily blocked the Justice Department from moving forward with work on the new fund. A department spokesperson said it “remains extremely confident in the legality of the Anti-Weaponization Fund. ” pointing to “ample precedent. ” including “Obama-era settlements.”.
The disagreement over the fund’s purpose and legal foundation has grown as Republicans seek to embed it into broader legislative pathways. The $1.776 billion fund is designed to provide taxpayer-funded payouts to people who say the legal system has been “weaponized” against them. It is tied to an agreement between President Trump and the federal government resolving his lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department over the leak of his tax returns.
Senate Republicans have been weighing additional “guardrails” as they consider including the fund within a broader $72 billion reconciliation package for immigration enforcement agencies. GOP leaders scrapped party-line votes last month after a contentious meeting over the DOJ fund with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
At the time, Majority Leader John Thune told reporters, “They (Trump administration) need to help with this issue, because we have a lot of members who are concerned.”
That pressure is expected to surface again soon. Blanche will return to Capitol Hill this week for an oversight hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee.
With the judge’s temporary block in place and Democrats now promising to take the fight to multiple legislative routes—floor action. oversight. and appropriations—Schumer’s letter makes clear what the next step is meant to be: not just to delay the fund. but to try to stop it before it can reach the payment stage.
Chuck Schumer Senate Democrats DOJ anti-weaponization fund Drain the Slush Fund Act Adam Schiff Mark Kelly Elissa Slotkin Todd Blanche reconciliation appropriation IRS tax return leak January 6