Speaker Mike Johnson refused to rule out whether individuals convicted as part of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol would be eligible to receive money from the Trump administration’s new “Anti-Weaponization Fund” — or say whether he would oppose a scenario where they would qualify.

“We don’t know any of the details of that settlement fund,” Johnson told reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning, pointing to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s testimony before the Senate. “He said they are setting up a fund to compensate all Americans who have been the subject, the target, of lawfare or weaponization of the federal government.”

In a Tuesday hearing intended to cover the president’s budget request for the Justice Department, Blanche also refusedto say whether those who assaulted Capitol Police would be eligible for money in the newly-created account. He said the payouts would be determined by members of a commission overseeing the fund, who are selected by the attorney general and have yet to be named.

“He did not say who will be eligible,” Johnson said of Blanche. “I’m not going to comment on that until it comes up.”

The $1.8 billion account was announced on Monday as part of a settlement with President Donald Trump in his lawsuit against the IRS. Trump had sued for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns. Democrats quickly cast it as a slush fund intended to enrich allies of the president, and even Senate Republicans have signaled skepticism.

Senate Republicans took the last step Wednesday to tee up their $72 billion party-line immigration enforcement bill for floor action.

Following the 11-10 vote in the Senate Budget Committee, GOP leaders plan to begin debate on the measure either later Wednesday or Thursday. Since lawmakers are scheduled to leave town for a weeklong Memorial Day recess, Republicans need to clear the bill through both chambers by week’s end if they are going to meet the June 1 deadline President Donald Trump set for clearing the legislation.

The Budget Committee approved only one of two pieces of the package, since Senate GOP leaders are still revamping the portion of the bill that contains $1 billion for Secret Service security upgrades — including “enhancements” to the president’s White House ballroom project.

Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he didn’t know if that funding for the renovation of the East Wing of the White House would ultimately remain in the legislation. “We’ll see how that plays out,” he said, arguing that the shooting last month during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner “should wake us up a little bit” to the need for a more secure location to host formal events the president attends.

That funding faces procedural challenges under the strict rules of the reconciliation process GOP leaders are using to pass the package at a simple-majority threshold, rather than meet the 60-vote bar under the Senate filibuster. But several Republican senators have raised objections as well.

One of the nation’s leading gun safety groups has a message for Republicans: Tuesday’s results show you don’t have to be scared of the pro-firearm lobby anymore.

Giffords, a gun safety advocacy group cofounded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), is sending a memo to all Republican members of Congress today —first shared with POLITICO — noting that pro-firearm groups largely sat out both Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) and Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) primaries, even as the two represent opposite wings of the GOP spectrum on gun control.

The ambivalence toward both one of the gun lobby’s strongest allies and one of its biggest Republican boogeymen shows its waning power, Giffords argues.

“Common logic has always been that the gun lobby can make or break you in a Republican primary,” Emma Brown, executive director of Giffords, told Blue Light News. “Both of these primaries demonstrate a very different narrative: they just don’t have the juice anymore.”

Massie is one of the staunchest Second Amendment defenders in Congress. The president of the National Association for Gun Rights, a group that sits to the right of the National Rifle Association, called him “literally the best vote for the 2A in Congressional history” this week. Cornyn, meanwhile, was one of the architects of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun safety package passed in response to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in Cornyn’s state.

That legislation angered many pro-gun groups — the NRA said it would place “unnecessary burdens on the exercise of Second Amendment freedom” by gun owners. But they largely sat out of Cornyn’s reelection bid: The National Association for Gun Rights Inc. PAC spent only $5,000 backing Cornyn’s opponent.

“The data shows they can’t take you out if you’ve pissed them off — like John Cornyn — and they also can’t save you if you’ve done all they asked — like Thomas Massie,” Brown said.

Cornyn’s support for gun safety legislation is an issue in his primary, as Attorney General Ken Paxton has slammed him for passing the “worst gun control bill in decades.” But a poll commissioned by Giffords of Texas GOP runoff voters found that attacks on Cornyn’s gun record are far less resonant than other criticisms, such as his change of position on the SAVE America Act and the suggestion he is a “Republican In Name Only” or “fake MAGA.”

The poll, shared first with POLITICO, found Paxton leading Cornyn 52% to 40%. It was conducted by Global Strategy Group between May 6 and May 11, 2026, before Trump endorsed Paxton on Tuesday. The sample included 600 likely Republican runoff voters in Texas.

“I think there are a lot of reasons Texas Republicans may oppose John Cornyn, and he may get his ass kicked, but it’s not going to be because of [the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act],” Brown said.