Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche struggled Thursday to quash GOP concerns over a newly announced $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

Blanche met privately with Senate Republicans as the administration and GOP leaders try to defuse a controversy that is complicating their push to quickly advance an immigration enforcement bill.

GOP leaders believe they have enough members who would support a proposal targeting the fund that it would ultimately be added into the filibuster-skirting bill, as POLITICO first reported Wednesday.

Asked if the briefing changed her mind, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a critic of the fund, told reporters, “No.”

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — who have also been critical of the fund — declined to comment. But two people granted anonymity to describe the meeting said the meeting did not go well for the administration and that Blanche was not persuasive.

Money for the fund isn’t included in the GOP’s immigration enforcement bill. But because the bill involves Justice Department funding and the Senate Judiciary Committee is involved in the bill, senators have a path to add language related to the fund into the bill with only 51 votes. Republicans did discuss possible guardrails they could put on the fund during the meeting.

Republicans have not yet finalized the bill they plan to put on the Senate floor, raising the possibility that the chamber could punt action until after a weeklong Memorial Day recess. Senate leaders could have attendance issues if they try to keep members in town past Friday afternoon.

Asked if they could still vote on the bill this week, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) told reporters, “That’s being discussed.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) told reporters after leaving the meeting that leaders would likely decide “within the next hour or so” about whether to send members home and reconvene after the recess.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to comment on the fund or on the ability to pass a bill this week as he left the meeting.

Rep. Andrew Clyde said in an interview Thursday he supports the DOJ’s new, $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund — and isn’t ruling out seeking money from the account for himself.

The Georgia Republican said the goal of the fund is to “make whole” anyone who has been unfairly targeted by the government, including people who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Pressed on whether he would personally pursue compensation, he reiterated that the fund is for “anyone” who has been the victim of government weaponization.

Clyde has, in the past, argued he’s been targeted by the IRS, and was subject to civil asset forfeiture nearing $1 million. Clyde fought the IRS in court and recouped a large amount of the money, but says he still has legal fees.

House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington said Thursday he wants the House to move a budget blueprint for a narrow, party-line policy package in June as House GOP leaders weigh whether they can advance the long-shot legislation by the end of July.

“We can do a resolution and put flexibilities in the budget resolution,” the Texas Republican said, noting Republicans can add spending caps and other targets in the blueprint required to kickstart the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process.

Speaker Mike Johnson hosted a meeting Thursday morning with Arrington, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, several GOP caucus heads and some key rank and file members, where the discussion centered around the path forward on advancing a third reconciliation bill — a follow up to the “big, beautiful bill” from last July and the immigration enforcement measure Republicans hope to pass in the coming days.

Republicans at this latest meeting discussed ways so-called Reconciliation 3.0 could tackle fraud and improve affordability of everyday goods, according to four people granted anonymity to share private conversations.

Arrington said this future bill will focus on six or seven committees of jurisdiction — far narrower than the GOP tax cuts and spending megabill Republicans passed last year but more expansive than the immigration bill currently winding its way through the Capitol, which only looped in two panels to contribute to the legislative product.

Republicans could ultimately decide to push off a vote on the immigration package until after the upcoming Memorial Day recess. But Arrington said he didn’t think that delay would throw off his summer timeline for crafting and passing the third reconciliation bill.