Good morning and welcome back to today’s edition of The Wolf’s Den. It’s Friday (thank god), May 22nd and today’s story is an important one. Today, we are covering the BIPARTISAN effort to kill Donald Trump’s insane anti-weaponization fund. It’s not often that we see bipartisanship in Washington, so today, I wanted to give you some background into how this bipartisan effort could be one of the most important moments of this entire Congress.
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Yesterday, on the Wolf’s Den, we talked about Trump’s so-called anti-weaponization fund, a $1.8 billion pot of taxpayer money that could be used to compensate January 6th insurrectionists. Let’s be very clear about what that means. The American people would be asked to foot the bill for people who attacked the Capitol, tried to overturn an election, and put law enforcement officers, members of Congress, staff, and democracy itself in danger.
That is not justice. That is not accountability. That is corruption.
But today, there is genuinely important news. Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi has joined forces with Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick in a bipartisan effort to block this fund from being used to send taxpayer dollars to January 6th defendants and insurrectionists. That matters. It matters because it shows that even in this deeply divided moment, there are still lines that some members of Congress are willing to draw.
And it also matters because this did not happen by accident.
Congressman Suozzi chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus alongside Congressman Fitzpatrick. The caucus is made up of 50 members, evenly divided between 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans. It is not always the loudest group in Washington. It is not usually the group generating the most viral clips or the biggest cable news moments. But when Congress is facing difficult problems that require actual legislative work, relationships matter. Trust matters. Having people who can sit across the table from one another and say, “This has gone too far,” matters.
That is what we are seeing here.
Fitzpatrick had already expressed his frustration with this fund and reportedly said he wanted to “kill” it. Now, working with Suozzi, that frustration is being turned into legislation. That is the difference between outrage and action. Anyone can issue a statement. Anyone can post online. But building a bipartisan coalition to actually stop taxpayer dollars from flowing into a fund that rewards January 6th participants is how you fight back in a serious way.
Donald Trump’s abuse of power keeps escalating. This proposed fund is not just another political stunt. It is an attempt to use public money to protect and reward people connected to one of the darkest days in modern American history. It sends a message that loyalty to Trump matters more than loyalty to the Constitution. That cannot be allowed to stand.
So credit where it is due. Congressman Tom Suozzi and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick are showing exactly what responsible leadership looks like in this moment. They are proving that defending democracy is not just about speeches. It is about votes, coalitions, legislation, and the willingness to act when the stakes are high.
This is how you stop Trump’s worst impulses. This is how you defend the rule of law. And this is how serious people in Congress can still make a difference.
-Ethan
