[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 92 (Monday, June 1, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2462-S2463]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ANTI-WEAPONIZATION FUND
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, the press reports that Trump says he will
table his $2 billion MAGA slush fund, but a promise from Trump is
worthless. If Trump and Republicans are truly abandoning this corrupt
scheme, they should have zero problem banning it in law.
This week, Senate Democrats will push legislation to ban this slush
fund and ensure no President can ever do this again. Trump's word is
nowhere near enough.
Donald Trump's attempt to establish this trust fund alone is one of
the most glaring cases of corruption in American history. Trump's slush
fund is the textbook definition of self-dealing. Trump sued himself,
settled with himself, and then Trump gives himself and his family
immunity to evade their taxes; and Trump makes you, the American
taxpayer, pay for it all.
This slush fund could never have passed the smell test. At a time
when Americans can barely afford to fill their tanks, to keep the
lights on, put food on their table, Trump wants the American people to
pay for handouts for MAGA billionaires, cop-beating January 6
insurrectionists, and his own family. He wanted no transparency, no
oversight, no accountability. It is disgusting.
Now Trump is claiming that the slush fund is dead for now, but
Democrats will not stop until it is well and truly buried and can never
see the light of day. Democrats are going to make sure this slush fund
is dead and cannot be revived just like we did with the ballroom.
Republicans can try to wriggle their way out of answering for this
corruption, but it won't work. If Republicans try to force through
their reconciliation bill again, the first amendment I will offer will
be to ban the slush fund permanently and forever. If Republicans try to
meddle with the appropriations process to do Trump's bidding, we will
fight it there too. And if Republicans try to use toothless constraints
to make the slush fund more palatable, we will press them to dismantle
it entirely.
For something as inherently corrupt as this slush fund, half measures
won't cut it. You don't fix a corrupt slush fund by relying on the word
of the most untrustworthy President we have ever had; you ban it.
The slush fund is rotten to the core. Democrats will make sure
Republicans vote on it no matter what. This is corruption in broad
daylight, and Republicans are foolish to think they can hide in the
shadows.
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