The Republican civil war is no longer beneath the surface. It is playing out in open votes on the Senate floor.
Tensions are rising sharply between President Trump and Senate Republicans, and their disagreements spilled into public view this week when GOP senators repeatedly used amendment votes on a $70 billion budget reconciliation bill to create distance from the White House.
Three Republican senators facing tough races in November — Susan Collins of Maine, John Husted of Ohio, and Dan Sullivan of Alaska — scrambled to distance themselves from some of Trump’s most controversial recent proposals, including the construction of a 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom and his proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
Republican senators who lost their re-election primaries last month due to Trump’s support for their opponents, such as Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas, are becoming more assertive in voicing their independence.
And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who is trying to keep Trump’s agenda moving on schedule, is having to put out fires in the Senate Republican conference left and right because the White House has announced some of its most controversial moves right before critical Senate votes.
The Ballroom and the Fund
The 18-hour vote-a-rama in the Senate Thursday and Friday showed that the political fights over Trump’s 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom and the Justice Department’s proposed $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund are not going away.
Democrats say they will force Republicans to vote again and again on amendments to block the ballroom and the fund. Trump has refused to back down.
Trump undercut his own acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, on Wednesday when he refused to confirm that his administration would drop the idea of the fund, asserting instead that “it was a beautiful thing.”
“I love it. I think it’s so important,” Trump said.
That puts pressure on vulnerable GOP incumbents like Collins, Husted, and Sullivan to support amendments blocking any funding for a legal compensation fund.
Cassidy argued on the Senate floor that Trump is still a party to a settlement with the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service not to audit his or his family’s financial affairs — which means the anti-weaponization fund, a part of that settlement, is very much alive.
The Cassidy Factor
Cassidy has emerged as an assertive independent within the Senate Republican conference after losing his primary re-election bid in large part because of Trump’s vocal opposition.
As chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Cassidy will exert significant influence over Trump’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration and his nominee for surgeon general.
The Louisiana senator says he has no regrets about voting to convict Trump at his 2021 Senate impeachment trial on the charge of inciting insurrection. He is framing his stance on key issues — opposition to the ballroom and the anti-weaponization fund, support for an Iran war powers resolution — as motivated by reverence for the Constitution, not personal animus toward Trump.
Cassidy was one of 12 Republicans who voted Thursday to redirect money from the anti-weaponization fund to crack down on fraud against US taxpayers. He also sponsored an amendment to repurpose the fund solely for payouts to law enforcement officers injured defending the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The Blanche Problem
Senate Republicans are already warning that Trump’s expected nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general will face heavy scrutiny. GOP senators want more information about Blanche’s role in advancing the idea for the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund.
They also want to ensure that Blanche hasn’t expressed sympathy for the Trump supporters who overran the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and that he will show independence as the nation’s chief federal law enforcement officer — not make decisions driven by his allegiance to Trump as his former personal lawyer.
“He needs to answer some questions for me,” Cornyn, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said of Blanche. “He’s going to have to commit an understanding of the job, which is that he’s not the president’s lawyer. He’s the chief law enforcement officer of the country.”
Trump’s nominee to serve as acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, could also face a tough path to confirmation. Several prominent Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about his lack of credentials.
The SAVE America Act Showdown
Trump demanded that his Senate allies force a vote on the SAVE America Act, which would require people to show documented proof of citizenship when registering to vote, during the vote-a-rama on the budget reconciliation package.
Senate Republican leaders did not initially expect a vote on Trump’s top legislative priority, but Trump insisted so he could see which Republicans oppose it.
Collins, Murkowski, Tillis, and Mitch McConnell voted against the motion, signaling that the SAVE America Act does not have the votes to pass. That is not sitting well with Trump and MAGA allies, who want Thune to abolish the 60-vote threshold for overcoming a filibuster.
The Bottom Line
Tensions between Trump and Senate Republicans exploded into public view as GOP senators used amendment votes to distance themselves from the White House’s controversial proposals, including a 90,000-square-foot ballroom and a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. Vulnerable incumbents facing tough November races joined defeated primary incumbents in defying Trump. The president’s nominees for attorney general and director of national intelligence face uncertain confirmation paths. And Trump’s top legislative priority, the SAVE America Act, lacks the votes to pass.
