U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One upon departure for New York, in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 11, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Democrats have come up with a new idea to stop the Department of Justice's new "anti-weaponization" fund, but it has several significant hurdles.
Trump sued the IRS in January after claiming the agency leaked his tax returns. Politico reported in 2025 that 400,000 Americans had their taxes leaked like Trump's. However, Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion. Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer, signed an agreement that would drop the Trump IRS lawsuit if the government sets up a fund for those who feel the government unfairly prosecuted them. Blanche signed that order on Tuesday.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) have just introduced their version of a Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) bill that would tax payouts at 100 percent, reported Seth MacFarlane on BlueSky.
Lawyer Don Dechert commented, "I find this odd, because even if it passes and becomes law, it looks more like making bills of attainder jurisprudence great again. Then again, I don't have much faith in the Court not undoing the proposition that 'compelled to bear burdens which the individual or group dislikes' ≠ punishment."
Thompson announced his bill on Tuesday, less than a day after Trump announced the agreement with his own government.
“This president continues to use the Office of the Presidency for personal gain, including by suing the federal government to line the pockets of January 6th insurrectionists who attacked law enforcement and tried to overturn our democratic election. That’s unacceptable,” the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax ranking member said in a statement. “My legislation ensures if a sitting president sues our government while in office, they get taxed 100 percent on any money paid through a trial or settlement.”
Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) similarly agreed that the government has been turned into Trump's "personal profit center" with "taxpayer dollars" going to the same people who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Ways and Means Committee ranking member said in a statement, “If the President wants to run a corrupt slush fund for insurrectionists and political cronies, the American people shouldn’t be forced to bankroll it. That’s why I’m grateful to Tax Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Thompson for stepping in and leading legislation that makes clear: no president is above the law, and no taxpayer should have to subsidize this kind of brazen self-dealing.”
The House measure is referred to as the SLUSH FUND Act, which stands for The “Stop Letting United States Heads Funnel Unauthorized Nontransparent Dollars Act of 2026."
The most significant barrier to the bill is that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) isn't likely to allow the measure to come up for a vote. It means a coalition of Democrats and Republicans must come together to pass a "discharge petition," which would force a vote in the House. In the Senate, the Democrats would need 60 votes to break a filibuster so Senators could vote on it. Then, if it passed both chambers, Trump would likely refuse to sign it. Overriding Trump's likely veto would take 67 people.