Sen. Bill Cassidy attends a Senate Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
A Republican senator recently scorned by Donald Trump and denied reelection is going scorched earth to definitively kill the president's "slush fund," according to The Hill, to the point that his defiance is causing delays and headaches for his colleagues.
Sen. Bill Cassidy is a Louisiana Republican who, after initially being supportive and approving various controversial nominees, emerged as a vocal conservative critic of Trump and his conduct in office. As has become reflexive for the president, he lashed out against Cassidy and successfully endorsed a challenger in his 2026 midterms primary race, ultimately costing him reelection.
Now, Cassidy and the various other Trump critics, similarly denied reelection, are using their time remaining in office to make his life as difficult as they can by opposing his legislative agenda. According to a Friday morning report from The Hill, Cassidy was particularly stubborn about stopping Trump's stalled "anti-weaponization" fund for good during a marathon budget voting session on Thursday evening.
"Republican and Democratic senators say that Thursday’s vote-a-rama — a marathon series of votes on amendments to the budget reconciliation package — is dragging on because Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is trying to perfect language to drive a stake through President Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund," The Hill reported. "Cassidy has spoken to Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough several times on Thursday to get a sense of whether his amendment to bar the administration from setting up the anti-weaponization fund, which would pay out claims to MAGA allies who say they were unjustly prosecuted by the Biden-era Justice Department, would pass muster."
Explaining his convictions, Cassiday said, "I would like to fund control of the border but also do something about the weaponization fund. I’m trying to strike that balance."
One anonymous Republican told The Hill that Cassidy was persistently pitching new amendments to MacDonough in the hope that they could be added to the reconciliation package and pass with a simple majority vote. The parliamentarian, however, has continually shot down his ideas, informing them that they are the sort of things that would need 60 votes to move ahead.
"We haven’t done the Byrd Bath. I’ve spoken to her but it hasn’t been anything official," Cassidy told The Hill around midnight on Friday morning.
While Republicans have been frustrated by these efforts, Democrats have reportedly been supportive, and "have helped Cassidy give more time to plead his case to the parliamentarian by offering a succession of amendments to the bill, stretching out the time it’s spending on the floor."
"If Cassidy can get the parliamentarian to rule that his amendment could be adopted with a simple-majority vote, he would have a good chance of getting it attached to the budget reconciliation package," The Hill explained. "Three Republicans voted Thursday morning for a motion sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) to commit the reconciliation bill to the Judiciary Committee with instructions to make changes to bar the creation of the anti-weaponization fund. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jon Husted (R-Ohio) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who all face tough races this year, voted for Schumer’s amendment."