A pattern has emerged during Trump II that we have noted repeatedly in recent months, and it continues to reveal itself in new ways. Observing the executive branch’s goal of running roughshod over the separation of powers, Trump’s allies in Congress have gone out of their way to help with that mission — and, in doing so, have ceded their own authority to the executive.
The pattern first revealed itself a few months back, when only one or two Republicans in Congress were willing to publicly criticize, or even express concerns about, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency rampage through the federal government. DOGE’s work was, of course, one of many Trump II attacks on the checks and balances outlined in the Constitution, which leaves it to Congress to set spending. Musk and his DOGE bros spent months suspending and rescinding federal government funding, and few besides Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Rand Paul (R-KY) were willing to mention that there might be something backwards about the whole situation.
When the White House attempted to give the DOGE riot a whiff of validity by sending $9.4 billion of those cuts to Congress for it to approve in the form of a rescissions package, House Republicans were eager to rubber stamp Musk’s work. The Senate hasn’t yet taken up the bill — Republican leadership there is very busy at the moment, figuring out how to deprive millions of health care coverage in order to make Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy permanent without risking losing their majorities in Congress.
This brings us to the Government Accountability Office, an independent agency embedded in the legislative branch which investigates the way that congressionally authorized funding is spent and actually looks for ways to save money by weeding out waste and fraud (the purported goal of DOGE). In recent months, it has tried to sound the alarm on DOGE’s Impoundment Control Act violations. It’s issued rulings on at least two DOGE cuts thus far that it deems to be in violation of the Nixon-era law.
Now House Republicans want to gut the agency.
The head of the GAO put out a letter Wednesday warning House appropriators that the provisions outlined in the new FY 2026 House GOP spending proposal could result in more than half of its 3,500 employees losing their jobs, according to Punchbowl. As part of their proposal for funding the government once the CR runs out in September, House Republicans are essentially seeking retribution against the very agency that their branch of government uses to advocate for their spending allocations.
More from Punchbowl:
House Republicans are calling for a $396 million cut to GAO’s budget, or roughly 49%, as part of the FY2026 Legislative Branch funding bill, which is set to be marked up by the full House Appropriations Committee today.
This would leave only “skeletal staffing” while costing federal taxpayers potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in lost savings for waste, fraud and abuse, something GAO roots out very well, per Gene Dodaro, the comptroller general. Democrats are adamantly opposed to House GOP funding levels, as is the Senate.
Ken Chesebro Disbarred in NY Over Designing 2020 ‘Fake Electors’ Scheme
He may have lost his law license but, in a sense, Ken Chesebro won.
Chesebro was the architect of the fake electors plot, the scheme that saw the Trump campaign convene electors in 2020 to pretend that they had won the election that they had, in fact, lost. They then submitted the fake elector certificates to Congress; the idea was that Republican members would feign confusion over which certificates were real, creating enough chaos for Trump to eke out a win.
That portion of the plan failed. But the point here was not only to give Trump a bridge through to being re-inaugurated in January 2021. It was also to delegitimize the results of the election, casting his defeat into doubt and building a different kind of bridge: one to 2024.
For Chesebro, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents in Georgia in 2023. That resulted in his disbarment on Thursday from New York state. The appeals court that disbarred him found that Chesebro’s work in 2020 “undercuts the very notion of our constitutional democracy,” and that he maintains a “cavalier attitude” towards his actions. It’s not hard to understand why.
— Josh Kovensky
The Republican Tug of War Over The Senate Parliamentarian
After Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s rulings rejecting Republicans’ proposed Medicaid cuts — finding them to be noncompliant with the Byrd Rule — became public, a few far-right Republicans spiraled into outrage, demanding that leadership fire or sideline her.
Several other Senate Republicans pointed out that that would not help the situation.
“That would ruin the whole reconciliation process and we have to keep the reconciliation process moving,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told reporters while heading to the Senate floor on Thursday.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea … I don’t see how that helps us,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) chimed in when asked about the remarks.
Pressed on if he is worried about Trump asking them to do so, he added: “I’m not worried that he might but I hope he doesn’t.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) also made it clear Senate GOP leadership won’t be overruling the parliamentarian’s decisions.
“No, that would not be a good option for getting a bill done,” Thune said on Thursday.
— Emine Yücel
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