Congress White House Ballroom

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., arrives for a closed-door meeting with fellow Republican senators at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 21, 2026.

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Pushed to the limit, Republicans show rare defiance to Trump's demands

Pushed to the limit, Republicans show rare defiance to Trump's demands

President Donald Trump’s political revenge tour met its potential match this week as angry Republican senators finally said no, even if temporarily. Pushed to a breaking point by his demand for a $1.776 billion fund for Jan. 6 rioters and others he believes were wrongly prosecuted, senators simply refused and left for break. The moment was a sudden flex from the Republican majority almost always more willing to accommodate the Republican president than confront him. The result left unfinished for now the GOP’s top priority of passing a roughly $70 billion budget package that would fuel Trump’s immigration and deportation operations.