. “Why would you do that if you know that whatever you negotiate is going to be subject to the knife pulled out by Russ Vought?”
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“[Democrats’] concern right now, and it’s a legitimate concern, is that, how can we agree to any deal when our OMB director will just impound the funds and say we’re not going to spend them there?” Rep. Mike Simpson, a Republican appropriator from Idaho, told Bloomberg Government.
“If you’re a Democrat, you’re looking at it, and you’re saying, ‘Why am I going to try to be helpful, if Mr. Vought and OMB is just going to do a backdoor move and rescind what we’ve been working on?’” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters on Oct. 14.
Once upon a time, Congress maintained a sense of institutional identity whereby its members, no matter the party, protected its constitutional grants of power from intrusion by the president. At times, Congress chose to cede power or created new power-sharing arrangements with the president, but this was done in service of maintaining congressional power amid changing circumstances. That all appears to be going out the window as the Republican Party embraces a strongman theory of the presidency.
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Congressional Democrats did place some restraints on Trump’s abuse of appropriations into their continuing resolution to fund the government. These include limiting the fast-track process for rescission legislation, ending pocket rescissions and extending the availability of funds frozen by Trump’s OMB. Now, this has no chance of becoming law, as Republicans are lockstep with Trump, who would also veto such legislation.
The question is when, if ever, Congress regains a sense of self-respect and defends its turf as it has done in past confrontations with the executive.
“What’s it going to take for Congress to get to the point where it’s institutionally ready to explore ways to hold the administration accountable for not following the laws,” Lindgrensavage said. “And that’s still what we have not yet seen.”
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