The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to defeat an amendment sponsored by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) to redirect the nearly $1.8 billion proposed for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “anti-weaponization” fund to bolster the budget for cracking down on fraud against U.S. taxpayers.

“This amendment prohibits federal funds from being used to establish, administer, defend or pay claims through the so-called anti-weaponization fund,” Tillis said on the Senate floor, explaining his proposed amendment to the $70 billion budget reconciliation package.

“All this amendment does is codify what I believe the policy of the DOJ is and rather than allow those funds to be directed toward settlement-related payments, it directs resources to the fraud division up to the amount of $1.7 billion,” Tillis said on the floor.

The Senate voted 15-84 against waiving a procedural objection to Tillis’s bill raised by Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Twelve Republicans and three Democrats voted for the proposal.

The Republicans who voted yes were Tillis and Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), John Cornyn (Texas), John Curtis (Utah), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Jon Husted (Ohio), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mike Rounds (South Dakota), Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and Todd Young (Ind.).

Democrats Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Catherine Cortez-Masto (Nev.) also voted yes.

Graham argued that Tillis’s amendment would exceed the budget authority allocated to the Senate Judiciary Committee for the purpose of crafting the reconciliation package.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the ranking member on the Budget Committee, also rose in opposition to Tillis’s amendment, arguing it would establish a new “slush fund” under the control of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“Taking one slush fund and eliminating it and then creating a new slush fund under the control of the attorney general is not the way to go. The way to go is to get rid of these slush funds altogether,” he said. “We’ve already seen how the administration has an enemies list, how inclined this attorney general is to use his resources and office to go after those enemies.”

Democrats argued that Tillis’s proposal wouldn’t kill the anti-weaponization fund but merely rebrand it.

Democrats argued the proposal would give the Trump administration $1.7 billion to go after their enemies and punish blue states under the guise of “fraud enforcement.”

Updated at 3:57 p.m.

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