Several GOP senators expressed uneasiness with the possibility that January 6 rioters could get money from the nearly $1.8 billion fund the Justice Department announced to compensate those who felt they had been targeted by previous administrations.
“I was here on January 6th. This was not a peaceful protest, it was a riot. It was a bad, bad day for our country,” Sen. Mike Rounds told CNN Tuesday. “Look, if you’re going to put together a fund, then let’s make sure that there’s a judicial oversight to it.”
Rounds said he had “no sympathy” for those who stormed the Capitol, and noted while the Trump administration can do what they want, “in Congress, we still control the purse strings.”
Top GOP appropriator Sen. Susan Collins said she has more questions about the fund after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told her Tuesday that there were “no limitations” on claims made to DOJ.
“I don’t know what the criteria are going to be at this point, but certainly it raises a lot of important questions that need to be answered. It is highly irregular, and this is not something that should be put in place without a lot more scrutiny,” she told CNN.
Asked if she personally thought January 6 rioters should be eligible, Collins responded, “I do not, if they have been convicted. I do not. If they engaged in violence against police officers, I do not.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Blanche’s testimony “has actually raised more questions for me than answered them,” in terms of “where this 1.8 billion comes from, the commission, how it’s determined, the eligibility, so a lot that we need to know.”
Asked by CNN if she’s comfortable with January 6 rioters receiving money, she firmly said, “no.”