Schumer vows to block Trump's $1.8 billion 'weaponization' fund

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Jun 1, 2026

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Sen. Chuck Schumer on Monday vowed to block President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which critics deride as a corrupt slush fund for MAGA allies and Jan. 6 attackers.

The minority leader outlined plans to launch “a coordinated effort to kill the slush fund before one cent goes out the door” in a letter to fellow Democrats as the Republican-led Senate returned from a weeklong recess without a breakthrough on the measure.

Schumer said Democrats would force GOP lawmakers to choose between defying Trump and rubber-stamping the fund, which the White House portrays as a settlement of the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against his own Internal Revenue Service.

“No matter what Republicans do, we will force them to vote on it,” Schumer wrote to colleagues.

He insisted Democrats would not negotiate any supposed limits on the fund, which is supposed to benefit anyone who claims they were wrongly legally targeted by previous administrations.

“There will be no escape hatch. No fake guardrails or backroom promises to hide behind,” he wrote. “You do not fix a corrupt slush fund by promising to manage it better. You end it.”

The opening salvo came as Republican leaders sought to find a path forward for the proposed fund, or a way to avoid dealing with it at all. A standoff over the “anti-weaponization fund” forced the GOP to leave town before the Memorial Day holiday without taking action to pass a $72 billion immigration and security funding bill on a party-line vote.

Democrats can force votes on the fund as part of the reconciliation process Republicans are using to skirt the filibuster rule that normally requires 60 votes in the Senate to pass most legislation.

In the meantime, a federal judge has blocked the fund from going into effect and the judge that was overseeing the Trump IRS suit is vowing to probe whether the settlement was kosher, since it amounted to Trump cutting a deal with himself.

Even many Republicans oppose the fund, especially without major changes such as barring payouts to those convicted of violence on Jan. 6.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has called on the White House to modify the proposal but Trump hasn’t given any signs of backing down, especially after he reeled off a string of victories in GOP primaries over perceived Republican moderates.

Some GOP senators also oppose Trump’s proposal to spend $1 billion on his glitzy White House ballroom, after he repeatedly promised the plan would not cost taxpayers a dime.

Political strategists on both sides of the aisle say the spending plans amount to unforced political errors at a time when Americans say they want to see Trump focused on fixing the shaky economy and taming inflation.

Republicans are hoping to cling to control of Congress in the fall midterms but Democrats believe they will flip the House and have an outside shot at the Senate.

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