众议院问题解决者核心小组的两党联合主席、众议员布赖恩·菲茨帕特里克和汤姆·索兹周日呼吁国会阻止司法部18亿美元的实施反武器化基金."
“乔纳森，这里的问题是一项基本上绕过国会的法规，”菲茨帕特里克告诉美国广播公司新闻的“本周”联合主持人乔纳森·卡尔。“国会拨款。行政部门自己一毛钱都没有。进入行政部门的每一美元都来自第一条，通过我们现在所处的拨款程序来自国会。”
共和党人Fitzpatrick和民主党人Suozzi提出了一项法案，阻止该基金支付任何款项。
司法部宣布成立18亿美元的基金，可以向那些声称受到政府“迫害”的人支付和解金，这些人可能包括2021年1月6日在美国国会大厦起义的暴徒。
两党对该基金声明的强烈反对自宣布以来有所增长。
代理司法部长托德·布兰奇(Todd Blanche)周四在国会大厦会见了共和党参议员，试图平息对“反武器化基金”的反弹，但消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，会议很紧张，唐纳德·特朗普总统的一些盟友表示反对，其中一人告诉布兰奇，“你创造了这个s - sandwich，你必须弄清楚。”
索兹周日表示，共和党人应该和民主党人一起行使国会的权力，阻止该基金支付纳税人的钱。
“这真的取决于共和党人与民主党人的联合。每个人都知道这是错误的，”索兹说。“这就是政府制衡的目的，这样政府的一个部门做了一些愚蠢或错误的事情，另一个部门就要对他们负责。”
Suozzi对1月6日因袭击警察而被定罪的暴徒获得赔偿的想法措辞严厉。
美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)周三问及这些人从该基金获得付款的可能性时，布朗斯回答说，“伤害警察的人总是能得到钱。”但是布兰奇然后补充说，这将是“永远，永远不要碰执法人员”，并说这是“一个人是否被允许申请索赔”和“他们是否会得到索赔”完全不同的问题。
他在前一天的参议院委员会听证会上说，虽然1月6日的骚乱者可以申请资金，但不能保证他们会收到付款。
“我喜欢一遍又一遍地讲述一个故事，1月6日，一名警察被殴打，人们说，“杀了他，杀了他，这个家伙走过来，丹尼尔·罗德里格斯，他把泰瑟枪插在他的脖子上，用泰瑟枪电击警察。这位警官心脏病发作，现在脑部也因此受损。他最终得到了12年的刑期。总统赦免了他。现在他们想给他钱。太疯狂了。"
违抗总统的共和党人面临的后果。反对总统的共和党现任者在初选中输给了特朗普支持的挑战者，包括肯塔基州的众议员托马斯·马西和路易斯安那州的参议员比尔·卡西迪在过去的一周里。
当卡尔问及他是否担心总统会因为他反对基金而找他麻烦时，菲茨帕特里克说他不担心。
“我不担心任何外界的批评。每个人都有工作要做。每个人都有权利和自由说出自己的想法，”菲茨帕特里克说。“我的工作是代表把我送到这里来的人们，我会做到这一点。”
索兹称赞菲茨帕特里克在一些问题上反对总统的意愿。
“布莱恩之前已经证明了这一点。他签署了其他的出院请愿书，其他共和党人也在不同的问题上加入了他的行列，特别是在过去的几周里。“我们需要我们的共和党同事……站出来说这是对的，那是错的，我们需要共同努力，让我们的国家变得更好，并专注于人们关心的事情。”
Rep. Suozzi calls on Republicans to 'stand up' to stop 'anti-weaponization fund'
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick and Tom Suozzi, the bipartisan co-chairs of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, called on Sunday for Congress to block the implementation of the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund."
“The issue here, Jonathan, is a statute that basically bypasses Congress,” Fitzpatrick told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “Congress appropriates money. The executive branch does not have a dime of money in its own level. Every dollar that goes to the executive branch emanates from Article I, emanates from Congress through the appropriations process we are in now.”
Fitzpatrick, a Republican, and Democrat Suozzi introduced a bill that would prevent the fund from disbursing any payments.
The Justice Department announced the creation of the $1.8 billion fund that could pay settlements to those claiming “victimization” by the government, a group that could include rioters from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Bipartisan backlash to the fund’s announcementhas grown since its announcement.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Republican senators at the Capitol on Thursday to try to quell the backlash over the "anti-weaponization fund," but sources told ABC News that the meeting was tense, with some allies to President Donald Trump speaking out against it and one telling Blanche, “You created this s--- sandwich, you got to figure it out.”
Suozzi said Sunday that Republicans should join Democrats in exercising the power of Congress to block taxpayer money from being paid out by the fund.
“It’s really up to the Republicans to join with the Democrats. Everybody knows this is wrong,” Suozzi said. “That's the purpose of the checks and balances in government, so that one branch of government does something stupid or wrong, the other branch holds them accountable.”
Suozzi had harsh words for the idea that payments could go to Jan. 6 rioters who were convicted for assaulting police officers.
Asked by CNN about the possibility of those people receiving payments from the fund on Wednesday, Blance replied, “People that hurt police get money all the time.” ButBlanchethen added it would be "abhorrent to ever, ever touch a law enforcement officer" and said it as "a completely different question with whether an individual is allowed to apply for a claim" and "whether they'll get a claim."
He said the day before in a Senate committee hearing that while Jan. 6 rioters could apply for money, there was no guarantee they would receive a payment.
“There's one story that I like to tell over and over again, the cop being beat up on January 6, people saying, "Kill him, kill him, and this guy comes up, Daniel Rodriguez, he sticks a taser in his neck and tases the police officer. The police officer has a heart attack and now has brain damage from that,” Suozzi said. “He ended up gettinga 12-year sentence. The president pardoned him. Now they want to give him money. It's crazy.”
Republicans who have defied the president havefaced consequences. GOP incumbents who have opposed the president have lost their primaries to Trump-backed challengers, including Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky and Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisianain the past week.
When asked by Karl if he worried about the president coming after him for his push against the fund, Fitzpatrick said he was not.
“I don't worry about any outside criticism. Everybody's got a job to do. Everybody's right and free to speak their mind,” Fitzpatrick said. “My job is to represent the people that sent me here, and I'm going to do that.”
Suozzi praised Fitzpatrick’s willingness to oppose the president on some issues.
“Brian has demonstrated this before. He signed other discharge petitions and other Republicans have joined him on different issues, especially over the past few weeks,” Suozzi said. “We need our Republican colleagues … to stand up and say this is right and that is wrong, and we need to work together to make our country a better place, and focus on the things that people care about.”
