Congress

GOP senators keep wary as DOJ tiptoes away from ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’

Published

4 months ago

June 2, 2026

The Justice Department took a small step back Monday from its controversial $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” It wasn’t nearly enough to quell the furor on Capitol Hill.

Republican senators, including some top leaders, said a DOJ statement that it would “abide by” a federal judge’s recent ruling to temporarily halt any payouts did not do enough to clear the intraparty concerns that have thrown the GOP’s immigration enforcement bill into limbo.

Instead they nudged President Donald Trump to make a more explicit move to renounce the fund, which could be used to pay participants in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and other Trump political allies that have been subject to federal prosecution.

“It’s pretty clear that the president has to say very explicitly that there’s not going to be a weaponization fund,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told reporters.

Sen. James Lankford, a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, added that the administration needs to “say what they actually mean.” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), another junior party leader, said the fund still needs “more investigation” and that there are still “a lot of questions” for the administration to answer.

Those warnings come as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche heads back to Capitol Hill Tuesday for the first time since a heated closed-door meeting last month with GOP senators that led to the scuttling of planned votes on a more than $70 billion funding package for immigration enforcement agencies.

In a scheduled appearance before a House Appropriations subcommittee, Blanche is likely to face more pointed questions about the fund and its future. During an appearance before Senate appropriators last month, Blanche refused to put any concrete guardrails on how the $1.8 billion might be paid out — specifically refusing, for instance, to rule out payment to Jan. 6 rioters.

This time, he will be under pressure to say more as Republicans grow more eager to revive the immigration enforcement bill this week — legislation they are counting on to fund agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the remainder of Trump’s presidency.

The administration’s obstacle is that there were wildly different interpretations of the DOJ statement Monday. Some, like Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), said the statement about respecting the court decision left the fund “moot.”

But others said the language fell short. The order is in place pending a June 12 hearing before a Virginia district judge, who could then remove or extend the injunction.

Enough Republican senators to block progress on the immigration bill, given the united Democratic opposition, said there were unanswered questions that could keep the bill from moving forward without a clear resolution.

“The reconciliation bill looks like a broken arm with the bones sticking out,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “They have to abide by the district court decision — that’s in the Constitution. I’d have to know more about their position on the weaponization fund to know whether it would be enough to dislodge the reconciliation bill.”

“If it means it’s completely pulled, then that would satisfy me, but I haven’t heard anybody say that that is actually what is happening,” added Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). She also hinted she could oppose the immigration enforcement bill regardless of how the fund debate plays out.

The qualms aren’t limited to the Senate. One House Republican granted anonymity to speak frankly about the situation said the fund was “DOA” in the closely divided House and that it “seems telling this is the court order they decide to abide by.”

Some Republicans in the House are privately mulling how to add language to the reconciliation bill that would kill off any future attempts by Trump to create such a fund, adding another complication to the stalled effort, according to the House Republican and two other GOP lawmakers.

Senate Republicans will discuss the status of the fund and the immigration enforcement bill during a closed-door lunch Tuesday, according to several Republican senators — just hours before Blanche is set to testify on the other side of the Capitol complex.

Also testifying Tuesday is Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who is expected to underscore the need for the much larger tranche of immigration enforcement funding to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, for his part, characterized the Justice Department’s comments as reflecting a broader shift away from the fund by the Trump administration.

“The way the statement is worded, I think it’s clear that they’re not proceeding with the fund, but obviously whether that’s sufficient to satisfy a number of our members is something we’re still sorting through,” Thune told reporters.

He added that Republicans should know by Tuesday if they are going to be able to revive the immigration enforcement bill this week.

The risk for GOP senators is a certain flurry of Democratic amendments to the legislation meant to expose incumbents to politically risky votes just months ahead of the midterm elections. Under the party-line process Republicans are employing, Democrats can force a slew of amendment votes before the bill’s final passage.

“The first amendment I will offer will be to ban the slush fund permanently and forever,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday. “And if Republicans try to use toothless constraints to make the slush fund more palatable, we will press them to dismantle it entirely.”

To help inoculate the bill against efforts to add in language related to the fund, Thune said Monday night Republicans would remove a section of the bill related to the Justice Department. That, Republicans believe, will require any amendments related to the department to clear a higher 60-vote threshold instead of a simple majority.

But several GOP senators didn’t completely close the door when asked about adding language related to the DOJ fund into the bill or supporting separate legislation. Some Senate Republicans could also still vote to add a preemptive ban to the bill or vote for other amendments that would limit or nix the fund, four Republican aides acknowledged.

Such a step, if it’s not explicitly backed by Trump, could threaten to sink the overall bill.

Asked if he was worried about a possible Trump veto if the fund was banned, Thune said, “Oh yeah, don’t you?”

Calen Razor and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

Trump apparently shares Tom Cotton’s phone number in push to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

Published

17 hours ago

October 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump appeared to share Sen. Tom Cotton’s phone number in a Saturday morning social media post imploring the Arkansas Republican to get behind a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.

“Almost everybody wants “The Sunshine Protection Act” to pass, except for Tom Cotton,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

The president has spent months personally pushing Senate Republicans to end the practice that sees Americans change their clocks twice a year, cementing more sunlight hours in the evening for all twelve months of the calendar. Cotton, whom Trump called “a friend of mine” in the Saturday post, has long argued that making daylight saving time permanent would leave children, farmers and other early risers in the dark for hours on winter mornings.

One of Trump’s key selling points on Saturday: the PGA tour.

“The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments,” he said, attaching a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp endorsing the bill. ”Likewise, regular Golfers, Tennis Players, Hunters and, perhaps most importantly, Farmers who want more Daylight to play or work.

A Blue Light News call to the cellphone number went to voicemail. A spokesperson for Cotton did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The current version of the bill was introduced in the House in January 2025 by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) leading the Senate version. The legislation would make daylight saving time permanent across most of the country, ending the twice-yearly clock changes. The legislation has been stalled in the Senate since July.

The president encouraged supporters of the bill, dubbed the “The Sunshine Protection Act,” to call Cotton to “let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he publicly gave out the personal cellphone number of then-rival Sen. Lindsey Graham after the South Carolina Republican criticized him. Trump, who came to count on Graham as a reliable Senate ally after he won the presidency, revisited the moment during Graham’s funeral in July, acknowledging that sharing the number was something he “shouldn’t have done.”

Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

2 days ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

2 days ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.