Senate Democrats are doing everything they can to kill President Donald Trump's "anti-weaponization" fund, and Republicans may be keen on helping them.The nearly $2 billion fund has drawn heavy criticism from both sides of the aisle since its announcement last month as part of the settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It also, for now, has blown up the GOP’s push to advance billions in immigration enforcement funding.And as lawmakers return from a week-long break, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats aren’t going to let the issue die quietly. SENATE GOP ERUPTS OVER TRUMP DOJ 'ANTI-WEAPONIZATION' FUND, PUNTS ICE, BORDER PATROL FUNDINGSenate Democrats are doing everything they can to kill President Donald Trump's "anti-weaponization" fund, and Republicans may be keen on helping them.
(Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)"This week, Senate Democrats will launch a coordinated effort to kill the slush fund before one cent goes out the door," Schumer wrote in a letter to his colleagues."And no matter what Republicans do, we will force them to vote.""If Republicans return to reconciliation, we will be ready with amendments to shut the fund down," he continued.
"If they try to bury the issue, we will force them to the Senate floor.If they try to sneak behind appropriations, we will fight them there too."The Senate is returning to pick up where lawmakers left off on budget reconciliation, the party-line process that the GOP is using to ram through $72 billion to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for the next three and a half years.REPUBLICANS RECOIL AS TRUMP'S BILLION-DOLLAR DOJ 'SLUSH FUND' FOR ALLIES THREATENS ICE, BORDER PATROL PLANPart of that process includes a "vote-a-rama," where unlimited amendment votes happen.Democrats already have several amendments in the works to curtail the fund, including one that would prevent those convic...