Trump's limits are tested after some Republicans push back

Amna Nawaz:

The Senate is in the midst of voting on $72 billion of fresh funding for Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The package has been held up for months since federal agents killed two U.S. citizens protesting immigration crackdowns in Minnesota. It stalled again when the Trump administration proposed nearly $2 billion for his so-called anti-weaponization fund which could compensate January 6 rioters.

Amendment votes are expected to run well into the night, but it's still unclear at this hour whether Republican leaders will ultimately be able to wrangle enough votes to pass the measure.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is here with the latest on that measure and the other Capitol Hill debates driving a wedge between legislative leaders and President Donald Trump.

Lisa, it's good to see you.

Lisa Desjardins:

Good to see you.

Amna Nawaz:

So where do things stand right now when it comes to funding for ICE and this anti-weaponization fund?

Lisa Desjardins:

After eight months, it does look like the ICE funding is lumbering perhaps toward passage today on the Senate floor, but the process is tedious.

As you can see, this is that process called vote-a-rama. It is definitely not as fun as that indicates. It is really more of a stare-down, the process of exhausting senators through an endless series of amendments.

But I am told it could end as soon as tonight on the floor. Now, in this debate, the two parties are not just divided, Amna. They really are having two separate debates. First of all, for Republicans, this is about the ICE funding, about the border and about what they say is a debate over security itself.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):

What you get is a secure border versus a broken border. What you get is ICE being able to do its job instead of being closed for business. To my Democratic colleagues, you're on the wrong side of this issue. You will find out in November.

Lisa Desjardins:

But Democrats disagree. For them, this is still about ICE conduct, what you just reported, but it is also specifically about the president's anti-weaponization fund.

His attorney general, his acting attorney general, said that it's not moving forward, but Democrats don't trust that. They think it needs to be codified and put into law now.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY):

Do we believe, do any of us believe that Donald Trump, who has lied to us day in and day out, will be able to resist getting his sticky fingers in the slush fund, when it would benefit himself and his family?

Lisa Desjardins:

So they are pushing for a law to ban it. Why are Democrats pushing for that in a separate ICE funding bill? The answer is actually simple, because they can.

This special process allows them to do that. Interestingly enough, Amna, Republicans, many of them tell me they also want to have something codified to outlaw this kind of thing, including Lindsey Graham, who I just spoke with, you heard from them there on the floor. He says he's open to something like that, and he thinks the president might be able to accept it. So we will watch carefully.

Amna Nawaz:

We will watch and see.

Separately, Lisa, I have to ask you. President Trump received what's probably the strongest rebuke yet from Congress yesterday when the House voted to end the war in Iran. What happened and what does it mean?

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right. This was significant on the House floor, a vote of 215 to 208 to block the president's actions in a war, an assertion of Congress' war power altogether.

How did it happen? Well, four Republicans joined with Democrats, there they are right there, to vote to block that war and block any more action in Iran. For now, House Republican leaders are holding onto that bill. It's a certain kind of resolution, a concurrent resolution, to become law. It would also need Senate passage and the president to not veto it.

We do expect the Senate to hold a different vote on Iran in coming weeks, but this was a very strong statement, whether or not it leads to any changes in war policy.

Amna Nawaz:

Another question we know senators are going to face soon, the president said he's going to nominate to act on a permanent basis as attorney general the current acting attorney general, Todd Blanche. What do we think will happen?

Lisa Desjardins:

Yes, Mr. Blanche has had a lot of face time with senators lately over that anti-weaponization fund that is not popular with Republicans.

Now, right now, there are senators telling me behind the scenes that they have doubts with him, especially because of that fund and because he was the personal attorney to the president, but more of them publicly say they favor him.

One said they thought this man, their fellow Senator Eric Schmitt, was going to be the nominee. So that's another sort of pause for senators. But I think, in the end, it reminds me of when perhaps Pete Hegseth was nominated and senators had a lot of problems behind the scenes, but in the end, Trump pushed him through.

This could go either way, but I see the winds blowing in Todd Blanche's direction.

Amna Nawaz:

All right, Lisa Desjardins covering it all, as usual.

Lisa, thank you.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.