Susan Collins yesterday accused Trumpy Bear of illegally refusing to spend $2.9 billion approved by Congress, teaming with Democrats in an early salvo in the simmering struggle between Congress and the White House over which has the ultimate power over federal spending. Via the New York Times:
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, initiated a letter to the White House that was signed by Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the panel’s senior Democrat. The letter asserted that the administration had violated the six-month spending law approved by Congress earlier this month.
They pointed to a memo Mr. Trump had sent to Congress on Monday that declared that only a portion of the $12.4 billion designated as emergency funding in the legislation would actually be spent, “because I do not concur that the added spending is truly for emergency needs.”
The appropriators vigorously contested that assertion, arguing that the law requires the administration to spend all emergency money or none of it, and does not allow the president to decide for himself what money to spend and what not to.
“Just as the president does not have a line-item veto, he does not have the ability to pick and choose which emergency spending to designate,” the letter said.
We’re starting to see some movement among Senate Republicans, thanks to the furor over Signalgate, the special election results in Pennsylvania, and the polling for two upcoming special elections in Florida. That’s why Yambo just pulled back Elise Stefanik and ordered her to stay put in the House. He knows they’ll need every seat.
Polling is also showing that the Tesla Terror is even more unpopular than Trump — and that’s before it sinks in how Bob Kennedy just decimated HHS.
Documents compiled by the appropriations panel showed that the White House action would deny funding in 11 areas that it has already targeted for elimination or steep reductions, including $750 million in international disaster assistance, $750 million in migration and refugee assistance, $234 million for the National Science Foundation and $100 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others.
It also withheld $115 million for international narcotics control and enforcement, a decision singled out by Ms. Collins as particularly confounding.
