Senate Republicans toiled on Tuesday to push forward with a bill to fund President Trump’s immigration crackdown, hoping that a clear statement from the administration that it was abandoning the idea of a $1.8 billion fund to pay people claiming to have been victimized by the federal government would be enough to unlock the needed votes.
The plan for the fund had generated an intense bipartisan backlash, and many Senate Republicans indicated last month that they would not agree to move forward with the legislation as long as the fund remained an issue.
On Tuesday, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, attempted to take it off the table, testifying before a House committee that the Justice Department was backing away from the plan to create what it had called an anti-weaponization fund as part of a settlement the president reached with the Internal Revenue Service.
“We’re not moving forward with the fund, period,” Mr. Blanche said, testifying under oath before a House Appropriations subcommittee.
“Not moving forward ever?” Representative Grace Meng, Democrat of New York, pressed.
“Correct,” Mr. Blanche replied.
It was not clear whether his statement would be enough to mollify Republicans who had been outraged about the idea of the fund, who are all but certain to be faced with politically difficult votes on the topic when the $70 billion immigration crackdown bill reaches the floor. But G.O.P. leaders hoped it would be enough to unite their party around the measure and allow votes on it in the Senate as soon as Wednesday.
