Republican senators on Tuesday tabled an amendment introduced by Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) that would bar the Trump administration from creating its $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday established the fund as part of a settlement after President Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for $10 billion in January. Under the new policy, which Democratic lawmakers have slammed, individuals who believe that the federal government has wronged them can seek payouts and “formal apologies.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the Senate Budget Committee advised him that Gallego’s amendment “does not comply with the rules.” Republicans on the panel then tabled the amendment via a 8-7 partisan vote.

“I offer this amendment for one simple reason: taxpayer dollars should never be used to enrich a sitting president, his family or his political allies,” Gallego said during a Tuesday hearing.

“The president of the United States sued his own government and then negotiated an arrangement with his own Department of Justice to create a nearly $2 billion fund to compensate himself, his family and his allies,” the Arizona Democrat added.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who will appoint five members to the board of the fund, said Tuesday that donors to Trump’s campaign and members of the Oath Keepers — some of whom were convicted of felonies for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“The commissioners will set rules,” of the fund’s spending, Blanche told Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

“That’s not for me to set, that’s for the commissioners, and whether an individual, an Oath Keeper, as you just mentioned, applies for compensation — anybody in this country can apply,” he added.

In a Monday press release, the DOJ noted that Trump — and his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — will receive a formal apology but no monetary payment in exchange for dropping their lawsuit. The president sued the IRS over an agency contractor leaking his tax returns to news outlets.

But Gallego sharply criticized the fact that those convicted of crimes for their involvement in Jan. 6 could seek damages from the fund. With an aide holding a photo of individuals convicted of assaulting police officers during the attack, Gallego remarked, “So much for backing the blue.”

He added, “This is not justice, it is profound abuse of public funds.”

Dozens of House Democrats on Monday also filed suit to block the creation of the fund, arguing that the move “raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history.”

Rebecca Beitsch contributing reporting.

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