Republicans in Congress have responded to President Trump’s unilateral moves to freeze federal spending, dismantle programs and fire civil servants with a collective shrug, staying mostly silent and even praising him as he circumvents the legislative branch.
But in recent days, as his slash-and-burn campaign to remake the government has begun to affect their states and districts, some Republicans have tried to push back in subtle ways. They have sought carve outs and special consideration for agriculture programs, scientific research and more, even as they cheered on Mr. Trump’s overall approach.
Their swift and quiet moves to protect their own pieces of the federal spending pie without critiquing Mr. Trump are an early indication of the political realities that could pose obstacles to the president’s push. Many programs he has targeted for cost-cutting have entrenched constituencies in Congress built up by Republicans over many years. It is one reason that shrinking the size of the federal government will be a mammoth task, despite the G.O.P.’s posture of maximum deference to Mr. Trump.
Ms. Britt was one of the first Republicans to raise concerns at home soon after the Trump administration directed the National Institutes of Health to slash $4 billion in overhead costs for medical research grantees, a move that has since been paused by a federal judge. Ms. Britt, whose state has received more than $518 million in N.I.H. grants for projects currently active there, told a local news outlet that she would press administration officials to take a “smart, targeted approach” to cuts so as to “not hinder lifesaving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions” such as the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
In the House, a group of Republicans from farm states and districts introduced legislation this week that aims to salvage a foreign aid program targeted for extinction by Mr. Trump as part of his effort to wipe out the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The bill would transfer oversight of the Food for Peace program, which purchases crops at market price from American farmers and distributes them to hungry people abroad, from U.S.A.I.D. to the Agriculture Department. The lawmakers argued that their legislation fulfills the spirit of what Mr. Trump calls his “mandate” to slim down the federal bureaucracy and make it more efficient.
Not all Republicans are pushing back on Mr. Trump’s efforts to slash federal spending, even when those cuts hit programs in their states.
Posted by John3262005
8 Comments
Everyone wants to reduce the government until it’s a part of the government they depend on.
I didn’t think King Leopold II would eat my face!
Another piece of evidence in the long list of evidence showing that Republicans are complete and utter hypocrites. Color me surprised.
Democrats 2028 campaign: run specifically on choking out federal funding to red areas just to see how small government these guys really are
” he’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting”
Saw a video of a farmer complaining about this. He invested into a government conservation program and now they have gone quiet on him. He kept saying shit like “never trust the government” but bro…. YOU VOTED FOR THIS. Take some fucking responsibility when the people you vote for do what they say they were gonna do. Dude is getting fucked and he can’t even call people out by their names.
The Republican ideal is that liberals pay taxes for things that benefit conservatives rather conservatives don’t have to pay taxes and liberals get nothing.
“He’s just not hurting the right people” – the Republican Ethos.