Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers Tuesday that the Justice Department will not move forward with its $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, ending a program that had become a significant obstacle to Republican priorities in Congress.
"We are not moving forward with the fund. Period," Blanche told members of the House Appropriations Committee.
According to CBS News, the testimony came one day after the Justice Department said it would stop work on the fund following a district judge's decision temporarily blocking the program. The fund was designed to provide taxpayer-funded payouts to individuals who claimed the federal government had been weaponized against them.
Democratic Rep. Grace Meng of New York pressed Blanche during the hearing, asking whether his commitment would be put in writing. Blanche declined, saying the transcript of the hearing would serve that purpose.
"Why do I need to put something in writing if I'm telling you what we're doing?" he said.
Meng pushed back.
"You established it in writing, so it just makes sense to rescind it in writing," she said. "I'm just concerned 'cause you're not under oath, and I want to trust you and I want to believe you — we all do — but putting it in writing would settle that issue," Meng added.
Blanche did not budge. He declined again later in the hearing when Meng returned to the question.
The fund had drawn fierce opposition from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who warned that it threatened to derail the broader GOP legislative agenda. That opposition led Republican leaders to cancel a planned vote on Department of Homeland Security funding late last month. Democrats had threatened to force votes on amendments related to the fund, and with some Republican members expected to side with Democrats, GOP leaders chose to leave town for a weeklong recess rather than bring the bill to the floor.
The fate of the fund is also complicated by the fact that its establishment was part of a legal settlement. Lawyers for President Trump did not immediately respond to questions about whether Trump has agreed to drop the fund from that settlement.
Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the groups that sued over the fund, said in a statement: "If you can say it on TV, you should say it in court."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the administration's verbal assurances worthless and said Democrats still plan to force votes to formally abolish the fund.
Whether Blanche's testimony will satisfy Republican holdouts in Congress remains unclear. Some GOP members had continued to express reservations Tuesday, and that uncertainty was still preventing leaders from advancing DHS funding for immigration enforcement agencies.