Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks to the media as President Donald Trump listens, in the Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
Republicans on Capitol Hill are fuming this week as President Donald Trump's latest corrupt cash grab has thrown a massive wrench into the prolonged process to pass a vital budget bill, per The Hill.
This week, the Justice Department announced it would settle Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS by establishing a $1.776 billion fund to pay out to individuals the government has supposedly targeted for their political beliefs. This setup has been interpreted by many as a means to hand out more cash to Trump, his allies and his supporters. The settlement also included the unprecedented promise that the IRS would never again audit Trump or any members of his family.
The announcement quickly became a lightning rod for controversy, with a growing chorus of Republicans either calling for the fund to be killed or expressing intense skepticism about it. On Friday, The Hill reported that GOP lawmakers had raked acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the coals at a hearing, and also "made it clear that a budget reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement won’t move until their concerns are resolved."
"GOP senators pressed Blanche during a tense meeting in the Capitol’s Mansfield Room to accept guardrails to limit who could get paid by the fund and vented their anger over the attorney general’s refusal during a hearing Tuesday to rule out the possibility that people convicted of crimes related to Jan. 6, 2021, could receive payouts, according to several people familiar with the meeting," the outlet explained. "But Blanche resisted the Republican lawmakers’ demands to limit who would be eligible to get paid by the fund, further fueling the frustrations of senators in the room."
One anonymous GOP senator described the hearing as "a screaming-fest," with The Hill noting that it also became a chance for infuriated lawmakers to rip into a top Trump administration official "over a litany of issues that they believe have made it tougher to defend their majority in the upcoming midterm election." The anonymous Republican also singled out Trump's endorsement of scandal-ridden Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate primary as "the straw that broke the camel’s back" for many lawmakers growing fed up with him, given that the move makes it increasingly likely that Democrats will be able to win the seat in November.
Another source close to the situation called the confrontational meeting "toxic," adding that Sen. Thom Tillis "was really going in on him," as well as Sen. Rand Paul.
“The fund is an issue but it turned into a general airing of grievances, like the administration’s priorities keep shifting,” the source said. “There’s also been a lack of communication between the hill and the executive [branch] on a number of issues.”
“Imagine that, a fund that is set up to compensate people who assaulted Capitol police officers and other responding agencies. People that had pled guilty to physical acts... may actually be able to get compensated," Tillis said prior to the hearing. "How absurd does that sound coming out of my mouth?”
“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong – Take your pick,” former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement following the hearing.