Punting over payout pot for punks

In substantial measure because of the most corrupt act in the history of the American presidency, attempts by the Republican Senate conference to pass a reconciliation bill have stalled before the long weekend:

President Trump and the GOP-controlled Senate collided head-on Thursday over the administration’s “anti-weaponization fund,” with a majority of Republican senators breaking with the White House over concerns about the $1.8 billion program’s legality and lack of guardrails.

With the two sides at an impasse, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) sent senators home for their Memorial Day recess, missing Trump’s deadline to have a bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol on his desk by the end of this week.

“We will pick up where we left off,” said Thune, who had raised his own concerns about the fund and said his colleagues had “very legitimate questions.”

The contentious fund is a top Trump priority, after he alleged for years that his supporters, including those prosecuted over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, had been targeted by the Justice Department. But its creation by the administration ran into blowback in the Senate, and the immigration-enforcement bill gave them leverage to dig in their heels.

“I don’t like the fund at all,” said Sen. John Curtis (R., Utah), who added he didn’t think any guardrails could fix it. Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.), a frequent target of Trump criticism who is retiring, called it a “payout pot for punks.”

Opposition to the weaponization fund went far beyond the handful of GOP senators who have spoken up publicly, according to people familiar with their thinking. Concern is widespread across the GOP conference and includes far more than half of Senate Republicans, the people said.

The fight comes as Republicans are growing nervous about their prospects for the midterms as well as whether they will be able to pass any more of Trump’s agenda ahead of November. The president’s decision this week to target another GOP senator, John Cornyn of Texas, for political extinction—by endorsing his primary opponent—rattled many Republicans who had been steadfastly loyal to the White House.

This is also a downside of Trump’s total control of the party electorate — the creation of multiple lame duck senators who no longer have any stake in advancing the president’s agenda or lying on his behalf.

And speaking of Woke Bill Kistrol Who I Still Haven’t Gotten Used To, he is also right about this:

Recall: Dems hung tough on no funding for ICE & BP, Rs caved and passed rest of DHS and decided to do ICE and BP via reconciliation. Trump wanted ballroom then slush fund, couldn’t work it out, & here we are. Lesson for Dems: Hanging tough put pressure on Rs, -> Rs in disarray.

[image or embed]— Bill Kristol (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social) 11:47 AM · May 21, 2026

Maybe Republicans will get it together and maybe they won’t, but don’t help them.