Republican senators find themselves in an unusual position these days: begging Trump officials to release funds they themselves appropriated.
Senators have in recent days made the case to Cabinet secretaries and other Trump officials to let money flow back into their states. They are trying to finagle exceptions to President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive orders or cuts made by billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service that freeze hundreds of billions of dollars, including money for farmers and infrastructure projects. That push comes as the administration has also sought to fire a wide swath of federal employees — some of whom live in red states.
Even as many Republicans praise the ultimate goal of streamlining the federal government, some GOP senators spanning the ideological spectrum from Katie Boyd Britt (Alabama) to Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) have lobbied the Trump administration to reconsider its cuts or pauses to federal grants that support biomedical research and labs, or for programs supporting Native American tribes.
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It’s a humbling turn of events for a body that has traditionally prized its power of the purse. The aggressive move to cut spending unilaterally “negates Congress’s hard-won power over appropriations,” said Jessica Riedl, a budget expert with the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank, who predicted lawmakers were “afraid” to more forcefully grab back their appropriations power given Trump’s popularity with the GOP base.
“Eventually Congress is going to have to take back its power of the purse rather than nicely asking the administration for favors,” she said.
But Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), a close Trump ally who supports the cuts, said last week that begging for funds may be the new normal, suggesting that lawmakers could lobby Musk to save spending they’ve allocated for their states as he slashes and cancels contracts at agencies.
Senators have in recent days made the case to Cabinet secretaries and other Trump officials to let money flow back into their states. They are trying to finagle exceptions to President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive orders or cuts made by billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service that freeze hundreds of billions of dollars, including money for farmers and infrastructure projects. That push comes as the administration has also sought to fire a wide swath of federal employees — some of whom live in red states.
Even as many Republicans praise the ultimate goal of streamlining the federal government, some GOP senators spanning the ideological spectrum from Katie Boyd Britt (Alabama) to Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) have lobbied the Trump administration to reconsider its cuts or pauses to federal grants that support biomedical research and labs, or for programs supporting Native American tribes.
ADVERTISING
It’s a humbling turn of events for a body that has traditionally prized its power of the purse. The aggressive move to cut spending unilaterally “negates Congress’s hard-won power over appropriations,” said Jessica Riedl, a budget expert with the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank, who predicted lawmakers were “afraid” to more forcefully grab back their appropriations power given Trump’s popularity with the GOP base.
“Eventually Congress is going to have to take back its power of the purse rather than nicely asking the administration for favors,” she said.
But Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), a close Trump ally who supports the cuts, said last week that begging for funds may be the new normal, suggesting that lawmakers could lobby Musk to save spending they’ve allocated for their states as he slashes and cancels contracts at agencies.
