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Senate Republicans toiled on Tuesday to push forward with a bill to fund President Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown, hoping that a clear statement from the administration that it was abandoning the idea of a $1.8 billion fund to pay people claiming to have been victimized by the federal government would be enough to unlock the needed votes.<\/p>\n
The plan for the fund had generated an intense bipartisan backlash, and many Senate Republicans indicated last month that they would not agree to move forward with the legislation as long as the fund remained an issue.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, attempted to take it off the table, testifying before a House committee that the Justice Department was backing away from the plan to create what it had called an anti-weaponization fund as part of a settlement the president reached with the Internal Revenue Service.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not moving forward with the fund, period,\u201d Mr. Blanche said, testifying under oath before a House Appropriations subcommittee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cNot moving forward ever?\u201d Representative Grace Meng, Democrat of New York, pressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorrect,\u201d Mr. Blanche replied.<\/p>\n
It was not clear whether his statement would be enough to mollify Republicans who had been outraged about the idea of the fund, who are all but certain to be faced with politically difficult votes on the topic when the $70 billion immigration crackdown bill reaches the floor. But G.O.P. leaders hoped it would be enough to unite their party around the measure and allow votes on it in the Senate as soon as Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, had said at a news conference earlier Tuesday that he was relying on Mr. Blanche to clear the way for such a breakthrough after the acting attorney general had told him privately that he would provide a \u201cvery definitive, very clear\u201d statement on the fund in his testimony.<\/p>\n
Afterward, Mr. Thune said he thought that Mr. Blanche had delivered a \u201cdefinitive\u201d message \u2014 \u201cI thought he was good,\u201d he told reporters at the Capitol \u2014 but said the bill was still a \u201cwork in progress,\u201d and indicated that he was still trying to line up the votes to move forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking to our members, continue to dialogue with them, see where it goes,\u201d Mr. Thune said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n