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{"id":23080,"date":"2026-05-21T12:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-dems-try-to-twist-knife-in-trump-gop-tensions\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T12:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:02:15","slug":"capitol-agenda-dems-try-to-twist-knife-in-trump-gop-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-dems-try-to-twist-knife-in-trump-gop-tensions\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Dems try to twist knife in Trump-GOP tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A marathon vote series on the Senate floor Thursday could be a big test of President Donald Trump\u2019s ability to get his agenda through Congress after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/05\/20\/donald-trump-republicans-midterms-revenge-00931151\" target=\"_blank\">wracking up a body count<\/a> of lawmakers who have crossed him.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The votes come at a particularly sour time for Senate Republicans, many of whom are still reeling from the president\u2019s successful primary challenge last weekend ending Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy\u2019s two-term career in the chamber and his late-breaking endorsement Tuesday undercutting Texas Sen. John Cornyn\u2019s reelection bid.<\/p>\n<p>GOP frustration with Trump and the White House\u2019s 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, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/05\/20\/ballroom-security-funding-reconciliation-00930193\" target=\"_blank\">POLITICO scooped<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have also shrugged off <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/05\/20\/trump-demands-senate-republicans-fire-senate-parliamentarian-00929797\" target=\"_blank\">Trump\u2019s calls to fire<\/a> the Senate\u2019s parliamentarian, who earlier ruled against inclusion of the ballroom funds to the bill.<\/p>\n<p>Now Democrats will look to the \u201cvote-a-rama\u201d process to crank up the pressure and squeeze vulnerable Republican incumbents on a range of Trump priorities and controversies.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer\u2019s office said Democrats will offer amendments related to high costs of living, masked immigration raids, the Iran war, \u201csecret payouts, cop-beater checks, ballroom favors, and Trump family corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>High on Democrats\u2019 amendment list: Attacking the Justice Department\u2019s new $1.8 billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund,\u201d which many Republicans were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/05\/19\/trump-settlement-fund-jan-6-00928221\" target=\"_blank\">already uneasy about<\/a>. Democrats have called the money a &#8220;slush fund&#8221; for Trump allies after officials didn\u2019t rule out that the pot could go toward those charged with storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. <\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just the fund that Democrats are planning to target. Sen. Adam Schiff\u2019s list of amendments will include measures to discharge overdue disaster aid in California and other states still awaiting funds from FEMA, Jordain scooped.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans meanwhile are working on their own proposal \u2014 which they could put in the yet-to-be unveiled reconciliation bill or offer as an amendment \u2014 to restrict the weaponization fund in an effort to get ahead of Democrats\u2019 demands, according to two people granted anonymity to speak candidly.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s election security-focused SAVE America Act.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2014 SENATORS SEARCH FOR HOUSING BILL COMPROMISE: <\/b>The White House is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/05\/20\/congress\/house-passes-long-awaited-housing-affordability-bill-awaits-the-senates-next-move-00929932\" target=\"_blank\">telling the Senate to pass<\/a> the embattled housing affordability package that overwhelmingly cleared the House on a 396-13 vote Wednesday. Senate Banking Chair <b>Tim Scott<\/b> and ranking member <b>Elizabeth Warren<\/b> signaled they are still pushing for changes.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2014 DEMS LOOK FOR ANOTHER WAR POWERS WIN: <\/b>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.<\/p>\n<p><i>Jennifer Scholtes, Katherine Hapgood, Connor O&#8217;Brien and Leo Shane III contributed to this report<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A marathon vote series on the Senate floor Thursday could be a big test of President Donald Trump\u2019s 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}