WASHINGTON ― Republicans on Tuesday blocked a Democratic bill to abolish President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and nullify a settlement freeing Trump and his family from any ongoing tax enforcement.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats would continue to insist on killing the slush fund and the tax break.

“The only way we’re going to ensure that they never see the light of day is to ban them permanently by law,” he said in remarks on the Senate floor.

Schumer asked the Senate for “unanimous consent” to pass the bill — meaning without a vote — but Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) objected.

“The president made clear that he’d not seek any compensation from the Anti-Weaponization Fund,” Hagerty said, adding that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has said the fund isn’t going forward. “Why is that not enough for my colleagues from across the aisle?”

Trump created the fund last month as part of a “settlement” of a lawsuit he filed this year against his own administration over a past illegal leak of his tax information. The $1.776 billion pot of money would have paid claims to the likes of Jan. 6 rioters and other Trump allies supposedly victimized by the Justice Department under President Joe Biden.

Amid an intense bipartisan backlash, Blanche, the current leader of the department and a former personal attorney for Trump, said the fund wouldn’t proceed. Still, Democrats and even some Republicans have said Congress should ban the fund by law, though they may have missed their best chance to do so.

Earlier this month, as the Senate prepared to pass a bill funding immigration enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, a handful of Republicans tried to amend the bill to include a ban on the slush fund. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) even said he would vote against final passage of the legislation if such an amendment were omitted. But most Republicans voted against the slush fund amendments, they all failed, and Tillis voted for the underlying bill anyway after an all-night Senate session.

Tillis said Tuesday he didn’t vote how he said he would for purely political reasons ― specifically, because him casting what was essentially an anti-Trump vote would have put too much pressure on senators who are up for reelection this year.

“I ended up consulting with the members who were in cycle, and a lot of my votes during voterama [the Senate amendment process] were instructed by the majority of their preferences,” Tillis told HuffPost. “Because, at the end of the day, the only people whose opinion should matter in our conference right now is the opinion of our members who are in cycle. That’s why I voted the way I voted.”

Tillis may get another chance to use his leverage against the fund when the Senate considers whether to confirm Blanche as attorney general this summer.

“We need to make sure that there is no scenario, by the time the confirmation vote occurs, that that payout pot for punks needs to be put away,” Tillis told reporters.

As for the bill Schumer tried to move on Tuesday, it was no surprise it failed. Unanimous consent requests can be a quick way to move legislation forward, but also a quick way to make a point when senators know someone will object.

“The objection is so unfortunate,” Schumer said. “It allows Trump to continue with his slush fund.”

Despite saying the fund won’t move forward, the Trump Justice Department has refused to rescind the memo announcing its creation, and it has fought a lawsuit to block the fund. A judge has temporarily prevented the department from implementing the program while the case proceeds.

The part of the settlement freeing Trump and his family and businesses from any ongoing tax enforcement, however, remains in effect, potentially saving the president from paying millions in back taxes.

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