House Republicans erupted Thursday over the Senate GOP’s decision to delay a budget reconciliation package tied to immigration enforcement, accusing their own party’s senators of slow-walking the work President Donald Trump said he wanted done by June 1. Florida Rep. Byron Donalds said, “The Senate’s demonstrated once again that they don’t even know how to get their work done properly.”
Trump said in April that he wanted a bill on his desk by June 1 to provide funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol, a deadline now slipping as senators postponed action this week. Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett did not hide his irritation. “It’s gutless, and I’m very frustrated,” he said.
The frustration was not limited to one corner of the House. Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood said he wanted the package finished but was still holding out hope. “I'm frustrated that it’s not done, but hopeful that they can finish it up when they come back, I guess, and we can get this done,” Flood said. Burchett, meanwhile, pressed the Senate to move, saying, “They need to work. They didn’t want to work …. The Senate ought to be calling on the leadership over there. If the House did it, I’d be doing it too.”
The dispute landed on the same day Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Senate Republicans on Thursday, after more than two dozen lawmakers demanded answers about guardrails for a Justice Department Anti-weaponization Fund announced Monday. Republicans specifically asked whether people convicted of assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots could be excluded from the fund.
The Justice Department tied the fund to a settlement agreement in President Donald J. Trump v. Internal Revenue Service, and a spokesperson sought to separate that fight from the immigration package. The spokesperson said there was a “healthy discussion on the settlement,” and added: “He made clear that the Anti-Weaponization Fund announced Monday has nothing to do with reconciliation. Indeed, not a single dime from the money the president is seeking in reconciliation would go toward anything having to do with the fund.” The department also said, “We will continue to work with the Senate to get critical reconciliation funds approved.”
That distinction matters because Republicans have been wrestling with how to attach new money and restrictions to a package the Senate Judiciary Committee could influence, creating another hurdle for a party already divided over pace and process. The reconciliation fight is now more than a budgeting exercise; it is a test of whether the republican party can still move one of Trump’s priorities through Congress quickly enough to meet his deadline. For now, the House is ready to go, the Senate is stalling, and the calendar is already working against them.
