Senate Republicans just left Washington for vacation without voting on President Trump's reconciliation bill — the one that funds ICE, Border Patrol, and actual border enforcement. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) then admitted the delay had something to do with Trump endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). Let that sink in. They're punishing the American people because one of their member's got his feelings hurt.
Nothing says "public servant" like abandoning national security over a primary endorsement.
Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman broke the story: "BREAKING NEWS: THE SENATE will go home until June, leaving the reconciliation bill unfinished." Until June. The border will just have to wait while senators work on their tans. The Senate broke for recess on Thursday night, and they won't be back until sometime in June, leaving Trump's entire border enforcement funding package sitting on a shelf gathering dust.
When Thune was pressed, his response was the kind of honesty Washington usually avoids: "It's hard to divorce anything that happens here from what's happening in political atmosphere around us." Translation: Trump endorsed Paxton, Cornyn's mad, won't vote the way we need him to anymore and the rest of the Senate GOP decided to take their ball and go home.
For context, Trump endorsed Ken Paxton on May 19, calling him "the Highly Respected Attorney General of Texas" and "an America First Patriot." The Texas runoff is May 26. Senator Cornyn, who's been in Washington long enough to have his own parking space named after him, is apparently not taking it well. And neither are his allies.
Paxton has been blunt about the stakes. "The MAGA agenda is dead under John Cornyn. He kills it every time," Paxton said. That's the kind of statement that makes establishment Republicans reach for their blood pressure medication.
Vice President JD Vance wasn't having any of it. "I think the message that people should take from this is, fundamentally, you have got to serve the people who sent you," Vance said. Imagine that — actually doing the job voters hired you for. Revolutionary concept, apparently.
Meanwhile, the bill they abandoned funds the agencies that are physically stopping illegal crossings and deporting criminal aliens. ICE. Border Patrol. The DOJ weaponization fund. You know, minor things. The kind of stuff that only matters if you think national sovereignty is important.
As Breitbart reported, this isn't just legislative delay — it's political retaliation dressed up as scheduling. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Senate Leadership Fund executive director Alex Latcham are both players in the Cornyn camp. Representative Wesley Hunt (R-TX), who backed Cornyn in the March 3 primary, brought nearly 300,000 supporters to that effort. The establishment machine is real, and when Trump crossed it by backing Paxton, the machine hit the brakes on his entire legislative agenda.
Let's be clear about what happened here. Senate Republicans chose a colleague's bruised ego over border security. They chose vacation over voting. They chose spite over the safety of American families living in border communities. And John Thune admitted it on the record.
Remember this the next time any of these senators run an ad about being "tough on the border." They had the vote. They had the bill. They went to the beach instead.