A bipartisan House effort is afoot to kill the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund created by the Justice Department that could pay allies of President Donald Trump, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the effort ahead of a formal announcement.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) have drafted text and are taking steps to unveil the legislation soon, the people said.

Speaker Mike Johnson raised the level of urgency to block the fund among some congressional skeptics when he refused to say Wednesday whether violent Jan. 6 convicts should have access to the taxpayer money.

Fitzpatrick said in an interview Wednesday he’s waiting to hear back from the Justice Dpartment regarding a list of questions he sent Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seeking more information about who will be able to access the fund, which was created pursuant to a settlement between Trump and the IRS.

Fitzpatrick said his constituents and others “don’t want a DOJ slush fund that has not been described or explained to anybody.”

Blanche is meeting with GOP senators Thursday morning, some of whom are want to curtail or block the fund through the immigration enforcement package Senate Republicans are planning to advance today.

Johnson would be unlikely to bring the Fitzpatrick-Suozzi legislation to the House floor, but Fitzpatrick has been involved in multiple efforts this Congress to use discharge petitions to pass bipartisan bills over GOP leaders’ objections.

Sarah Kellen, a former assistant to Jeffrey Epstein, told congressional investigators Thursday she was “sexually and psychologically abused” by the convicted sex offender, according to a copy of her prepared opening statement.

Kellen — who is sitting for a closed-door, transcribed interview with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of its investigation into the late, disgraced financier — has presented a quandary for lawmakers as to whether she should be regarded as victim or an accomplice to Epstein in carrying out his crimes.

Speaking with reporters before the start of the interview, House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said he suspected it would be the hardest conversation with a witness to date.

“I know how the Department of Justice viewed her. I don’t know how the Oversight Committee will view her,” Comer said. “Obviously she’s presumed innocent, she’s going to have due process, and I appreciate her being here today.”

He noted, “We have a lot of questions about everything from the day-to-day activities to what she saw and what she knows.”

According to the prepared remarks, Kellen described details of the abuse that she endured at the hands of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the only convicted co-conspirator in the Epstein case who is now serving 20 years in prison for her part in the sex trafficking scheme.

“Jeffrey made certain I knew that defying him would cost me my life,” Kellen said, per the pre-written opening statement. “I was a silent body in a chair beside men who started and ended wars.”

Kellen was one of four women viewed as possible co-conspirators as part of the 2008 non-prosecution agreement many have argued allowed Epstein to continue to prey on young women and girls for years. Kellen, who was ultimately never prosecuted or charged, described the government’s scrutiny of her as a total blindside.

“The federal government of the United States branded me a criminal in a secret deal with my own abuser, without ever once speaking to me,” she said in her prepared remarks.

Kellen also recounted to the Oversight panel that she was raised in a “religious cult” and married at the age of 17. After her divorce, she was excommunicated from her community. A man said he would introduce her to Epstein under the auspices that he was a “scout for Victoria’s Secret.” She later got a job as Epstein’s assistant and said he only paid her once the sexual abuse began.

“I have read articles online labeling me as Ghislaine’s Lieutenant; that is a gross misrepresentation,” she said, according to the prepared statement. “I was a literal indentured slave; in fact, she even referred to me as her slave and minion.”

Erica Orden contributed to this report.

A marathon vote series on the Senate floor Thursday could be a big test of President Donald Trump’s ability to get his agenda through Congress after wracking up a body count of lawmakers who have crossed him.

Senate Republicans are expected to bring their party-line immigration enforcement funding bill to the floor today after months of negotiations. But they still need to run through a procedural gauntlet of votes by Democrats who are eager to spotlight growing divisions between the president and members of his own party.

The votes come at a particularly sour time for Senate Republicans, many of whom are still reeling from the president’s successful primary challenge last weekend ending Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy’s two-term career in the chamber and his late-breaking endorsement Tuesday undercutting Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s reelection bid.

GOP frustration with Trump and the White House’s handling of the reconciliation bill was already boiling up this week, with Republicans expected to deal a blow to the president by stripping a prized ballroom security funding provision, POLITICO scooped.

Republicans have also shrugged off Trump’s calls to fire the Senate’s parliamentarian, who earlier ruled against inclusion of the ballroom funds to the bill.

Now Democrats will look to the “vote-a-rama” process to crank up the pressure and squeeze vulnerable Republican incumbents on a range of Trump priorities and controversies.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said Democrats will offer amendments related to high costs of living, masked immigration raids, the Iran war, “secret payouts, cop-beater checks, ballroom favors, and Trump family corruption.”

High on Democrats’ amendment list: Attacking the Justice Department’s new $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which many Republicans were already uneasy about. Democrats have called the money a “slush fund” for Trump allies after officials didn’t rule out that the pot could go toward those charged with storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Democrats are considering multiple strategies, including potentially trying to block the fund outright or ban any payments to Trump supporters who beat law enforcement officers that day, according to Schumer. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he will offer an amendment to prevent Jan. 6 defendants or child sex offenders from getting payments.

It’s not just the fund that Democrats are planning to target. Sen. Adam Schiff’s list of amendments will include measures to discharge overdue disaster aid in California and other states still awaiting funds from FEMA, Jordain scooped.

Republicans meanwhile are working on their own proposal — which they could put in the yet-to-be unveiled reconciliation bill or offer as an amendment — to restrict the weaponization fund in an effort to get ahead of Democrats’ demands, according to two people granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Republicans are also likely to pitch other amendments: Sen. Josh Hawley has vowed to offer an amendment to extend a ban on Planned Parenthood funding; and Sen. John Kennedy is expected to try to attach Trump’s election security-focused SAVE America Act.

Senators will try to power through the multi-hour vote and deliver the bill to the House by Friday, letting members leave town for the Memorial Day break.

What else we’re watching: 

— SENATORS SEARCH FOR HOUSING BILL COMPROMISE: The White House is telling the Senate to pass the embattled housing affordability package that overwhelmingly cleared the House on a 396-13 vote Wednesday. Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott and ranking member Elizabeth Warren signaled they are still pushing for changes.

— DEMS LOOK FOR ANOTHER WAR POWERS WIN: GOP defectors could hand Democrats a war powers success in the House today after delivering a win in the Senate Tuesday. Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to whip against the resolution, but the final tally could ultimately come down to which lawmakers show up to the floor.

Jennifer Scholtes, Katherine Hapgood, Connor O’Brien and Leo Shane III contributed to this report