A bipartisan House effort is afoot to kill the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund created by the Justice Department that could pay allies of President Donald Trump, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the effort ahead of a formal announcement.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) have drafted text and are taking steps to unveil the legislation soon, the people said.
Speaker Mike Johnson raised the level of urgency to block the fund among some congressional skeptics when he refused to say Wednesday whether violent Jan. 6 convicts should have access to the taxpayer money.
Fitzpatrick said in an interview Wednesday he’s waiting to hear back from the Justice Department regarding a list of questions he sent Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seeking more information about who will be able to access the fund, which was created pursuant to a settlement between Trump and the IRS.
Fitzpatrick said his constituents and others “don’t want a DOJ slush fund that has not been described or explained to anybody.”
Blanche is meeting with GOP senators Thursday morning, some of whom are want to curtail or block the fund through the immigration enforcement package Senate Republicans are planning to advance today.
Johnson would be unlikely to bring the Fitzpatrick-Suozzi legislation to the House floor, but Fitzpatrick has been involved in multiple efforts this Congress to use discharge petitions to pass bipartisan bills over GOP leaders’ objections.
