Cassidy says anti-weaponization fund is effectively dead after Blanche vote

Sen. Bill Cassidy said the proposed $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund was “effectively dead” after he cast the pivotal vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. Cassidy told Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan that supporting Blanche “wasn’t a black-or-white decision,” but that the rescission of the fund changed the political calculation enough for him to move yes.

Cassidy laid out that logic in Senate floor remarks on Aug. 7, 2026, when he said, “Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general.” Blanche had already been serving in an acting capacity before the confirmation vote, giving Cassidy a way to frame his support as a choice about continuity as much as ideology.

The Louisiana Republican’s backing mattered because Senate Republicans had spent weeks warning that the anti-weaponization fund could sink Blanche’s nomination. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine said they would oppose him, but Cassidy’s support left Blanche positioned for confirmation. The Senate approved Blanche on Aug. 8, 2026, by a narrow 50-49 vote.

The fight centered on the Justice Department’s proposed fund and whether Blanche would preserve it. A Justice Department order dated Aug. 2, 2026, said the Attorney General’s May 18, 2026, order creating the Anti-Weaponization Fund was rescinded and had no force or effect. The order said no members were appointed, no funds were transferred, no claims process was established, and no claims were paid.

Cassidy’s answer followed weeks of pressure from within his own party, including a July 15, 2026, challenge from Sen. John Cornyn over the fate of the fund. By the time Cassidy spoke publicly, Blanche had already scrapped the policy that had become the central test of Republican support, and Cassidy treated that reversal as enough to close the door on any effort to bring it back.