Senate set to pass government funding bill Friday after Graham pledges to lift hold

 The Senate is on track to pass a government funding package Friday afternoon after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told colleagues that he will release his hold on the massive spending bill if he gets a vote on legislation to crack down on sanctuary cities.

Graham brought the funding package, which includes five regular appropriations bills and a two-week stopgap funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security, to a griding halt Thursday evening, just a day before the shutdown deadline.

But the South Carolina senator eased off his threat to push much of the federal government into a shutdown on Friday morning.

He said he would allow the package to move if given a vote on legislation to criminalize the conduct of state and local officials who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement operations.

He also demanded a vote on legislation to give Americans who aren’t members of Congress a “private cause of action” to sue the Department of Justice for being investigated by former special counsel Jack Smith, who led the probe into President Trump for his role in inciting the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and his handling of classified documents.

“I’m demanding my solutions to fixing sanctuary cities, at least have a vote,” Graham said. “We’re going to have a vote on the United States Senate in two weeks as to whether or not we should criminalize the act of local and state officials who willfully disobey laws on the books because it’s good politics for them.”

“What conduct am I talking about? State and local officials openly defying federal law that’s been on the books for decades, incentivizing more illegal immigration, massive taxpayer rip-off and break[ing] of law and order,” he said.

Senate aides on Friday said they expect the funding package to pass the upper chamber sometime after lunch.

The proposal still needs to be approved by the House, which is convening its Rules Committee on Sunday to speed the bill through the lower chamber and get it to President Trump’s desk.

That means that funding for 78 percent of the federal government will lapse over the weekend.

Graham criticized the Senate GOP leadership for being put on the defensive over the fatal shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis and urged them to go on offense against Democrats for supporting “blue state” cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement officials.

“To the Republican Party, where have you been?” he said, arguing that congressional GOP leaders need to be more aggressive in holding anti-ICE protesters “accountable” for interfering in immigration enforcement operations and harassing officers.

“These people are patriotic. They’re away from home. These crowds that follow them to their hotel. They intimidate their families. The people pushing this are nuts. They’re not normal,” he said.

Graham said he also wants a vote on his bill to give individual Americans outside of Congress the right to sue the Justice Department if they were targeted by Smith, the former special counsel.

“I want to have a chance to have a vote on a version that would expand private cause of actions for nonmembers of Congress who may have a claim against Jack Smith,” he said.

He said he would work with Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee “to see if we can find a way” to require the Justice Department to alert members of Congress if they are targets of investigation.

“So I am willing to lift my hold. I’m willing to vote yes, I actually like the products. I’m asking for two simple things,” Graham said on the floor.

Graham was one of several Republican senators whose phone records were subpoenaed as part of Smith’s “Arctic Frost” investigation into attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Graham was incensed on Thursday that the pending stopgap funding measure for the Homeland Security Department included House-passed legislation to repeal a provision in the law allowing senators to sue the Justice Department over the Smith probes.

Senate leaders were attempting to fast-track the funding vote, requiring buy-in from all 100 members. That means a single senator could hold up the process.

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