Senate Republicans rejected an effort by Democrats on Thursday to formally kill President Donald Trump’s push for a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claim they were victimized by the government.

Senate Democrats forced the vote at the start of a marathon voting session known as “vote-a-rama” that will allow votes on amendments to a $70 billion GOP immigration bill ahead of final passage. If it had succeeded, it could have jeopardized that immigration enforcement funding package, a key Trump priority.

The effort to kill the fund failed 49 to 50,

with GOP Sens. Susan Collins, Jon Husted and Dan Sullivan crossing party lines to vote with Democrats. The vote put Republicans in a tough spot given that many want to see the fund shut down, but don’t want to derail the broader immigration enforcement bill.

Before the vote was gaveled closed, the GOP’s push to pass the immigration enforcement bill stalled for hours – forcing the Senate to a halt as GOP leaders were in talks with a group of Republican holdouts who had been refusing to vote down the Democratic attempt to kill the Trump administration’s controversial “anti-weaponization fund.”

The group of GOP holdouts, which included GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, who recently lost his primary after public clashes with Trump, had been refusing to fall in line behind leadership. But Cassidy ultimately voted against the push from Democrats.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/04/politics/senate-trump-weaponization-fund-immigration