Cornyn's fate and the January 6 compensation fund could be the straw that breaks the back of spineless Senate republicans.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/21/us/trump-news
Senate Republicans abruptly abandoned plans to take up a filibuster-proof bill on Thursday to fund President Trump’s immigration crackdown, a stunning turn demonstrating that members of his own party were not willing to risk politically toxic votes to advance the president’s personal agenda.
Though senators had widely been expected to bring their legislation to the floor before a weeklong recess, as Mr. Trump had demanded, G.O.P. leaders were unable to overcome deep concerns within their own ranks around the president’s plan to use a federal fund to pay people who claim to have been politically persecuted.
While the measure could still be taken up when lawmakers return, the delay underscored a toxic dynamic between the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress just months before the midterm elections.
Republicans had already appeared ready to jettison the White House’s request to include $1 billion for Mr. Trump’s ballroom project from the bill, after a small group of senators made clear they would not vote to advance it.
But there was even wider opposition to a Justice Department fund that Mr. Trump has said he wants to use to pay people who claim to have been unfairly targeted by the government. As Republicans discussed a way to curb that fund, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, traveled to the Capitol and met with them for roughly two hours behind closed doors.
The private meeting was highly contentious, according to people familiar with the session, who said that Mr. Blanche did not clarify any details on how the fund might be implemented or offer satisfying answers to questions from many senators about the lack of guardrails around the money.
“It is in real trouble — and it should be,” Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said in an interview shortly after leaving the session.