Senate Abandons Trump’s ICE, Border Funding Bill for Early Vacation; Thune Admits Paxton Endorsement Played Role



Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

by Jasmyn Jordan 21 May 2026

The Senate is heading home until June without finishing a reconciliation bill, after Republican tensions over the package coincided with President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman posted on X: “BREAKING NEWS: THE SENATE will go home until June, leaving the reconciliation bill unfinished. THUNE just told senators in the room. All because of the DOJ weaponization fund. House is expected to follow suit soon.”

Brendan Pedersen, a senior reporter with Punchbowl News, posted on X: “Thune asked if Senate Rs are responding to politics — ie, Trump endorsements and snubs this week

‘It’s hard to divorce anything that happens here from what’s happening in political atmosphere around us,’ Thune said. ‘You can’t disconnect those things.’”

While Republican Senators publicly claim substantive issues with the bill were the driving factor behind the early vacation, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) acknowledged President Donald Trump’s Tuesday endorsement of Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) weighed heavily on Republican Senators’ minds as they skipped town instead of advancing a top Trump priority as planned.

The comments came after Trump endorsed Paxton in the Texas Senate Republican primary runoff against Cornyn, a move that has sharply intensified pressure inside the Senate GOP ahead of the May 26 runoff.

Vice President JD Vance told Breitbart News White House Correspondent Nick Gilbertson on Tuesday, May 19, that President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Paxton “sends a message” that lawmakers “have got to serve the people” who elected them.

“Today we saw the president endorse Ken Paxton over John Cornyn in the Texas Senate race. Do you think that sends a message going forward for the next cycle to senators considering running for election, or any MAGA-aligned potential candidates that are considering challenging them?” Gilbertson asked.

“I’ve known John Cornyn for a long time, but unfortunately, you know, when it really counted, Ken Paxton was there for the country, was there for the president, and that’s why he ultimately earned the president’s endorsement,” Vance said.

Vance said Trump viewed Paxton as someone who would be a “better senator” and framed the endorsement as part of Trump’s broader push for Republicans who will fight for the voters who elected them.

“I think the message that people should take from this is, fundamentally, you have got to serve the people who sent you. If you don’t do that, you’re going to find yourself out of step with voters, or out of step with the President of the United States, and that’s not a good place to be politically,” Vance said.

Andrew Desiderio, senior congressional reporter at Punchbowl News, posted on X: “This quote from Vance is being talked about by some GOP senators right now who take issue with the idea that Cornyn wasn’t there for Trump “when it really counted.” Cornyn was the GOP whip during first 2 years of the first Trump admin — SCOTUS noms, TCJA, etc.”

Trump announced his “Complete and Total Endorsement” of Paxton on May 19, calling him “The Highly Respected Attorney General of Texas,” “an America First Patriot,” and “someone who has always been extremely loyal” to Trump and the MAGA movement, while highlighting Paxton’s support for “TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER” and “THE SAVE AMERICA ACT” and saying he would fight to “Keep our Border SECURE” and “Stop Migrant Crime.” Trump also called Cornyn “a good man” with whom he “worked well,” but said the senator “was not supportive of me when times were tough” and was “very late” in backing him during what Trump described as a historic run for the Republican nomination and presidency.

Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX), who finished third in the March 3 primary and did not advance to the runoff, endorsed Paxton after Trump did and urged his nearly 300,000 supporters to unite behind him, saying Trump “is fully backing Attorney General Ken Paxton, and SO AM I,” asking supporters to back “the next United States Senator from Texas, @KenPaxtonTX,” and adding that “NOW is the time to come together, fight TOGETHER, and deliver a strong America First victory for Texas and for our nation.”

The move came after Alex Latcham, executive director of the Cornyn-Thune-aligned Senate Leadership Fund, criticized Hunt on primary night, calling his third-place showing “abysmal” and describing his campaign as a “career-ending vanity tour.”

During a May 20 appearance on Fox News, Paxton stated, “The MAGA agenda is dead under John Cornyn. He kills it every time, just like the Republican Senate that he’s part of. That’s what they’re doing. They’re killing it.”

The Senate’s decision to leave the bill unfinished also followed a May 18 Breitbart News report that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told colleagues “in unequivocal terms” that he would not support taking up the package that week. Tillis also reportedly warned that pushing the bill then would hurt Cornyn in the Texas runoff because Cornyn should be “free to campaign in Texas this week instead of being in D.C. for votes.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...t-played-role/