Congress
The government’s top watchdog is retiring — but the Trump probes continue
Gene Dodaro started his career at what is now the Government Accountability Office in 1973, as then-President Richard Nixon was battling Congress for control of federal cash.
More than a half-century later, Dodaro runs that watchdog agency amid another epic clash between Capitol Hill and the White House over President Donald Trump’s funding moves. Now, with his 15-year term as comptroller general coming to an end in late December, he’s getting ready to retire.
“I’m going into witness protection,” Dodaro, 74, said in a recent interview of his upcoming departure from the independent office with a workforce of more than 3,000.
He meant it as a joke. But Dodaro’s agency, which is tasked with auditing federal programs and helping lawmakers fulfill their constitutional duties, has been under an unprecedented level of scrutiny this year as conservative lawmakers and the White House publicly challenge GAO’s objectivity and seek to undermine its influence.
Adding to the pressure on Dodaro, the Supreme Court this fall appeared to endorse the view that only the comptroller general has the authority to sue the Trump administration for flouting impoundment law — not the groups losing out on federal cash.
Dodaro has declined to take such legal action, despite the urging of some lawmakers, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins. “People are already suing in many cases,” he reasoned, adding that the court’s decision “surprised” him and that he won’t be “cajoled” into suing.
“We’ll see what we need to do. But we need to be prudent and make sure that — when we do it — we’re in the strongest possible position to prevail,” he added.
Following the Supreme Court’s opinion, Collins said in a brief interview that it “goes without saying” this dynamic underscores the need for the lawmakers involved in the selection process to find a strong candidate to succeed Dodaro.

Dodaro’s last day is Dec. 29, at which point he will hand-pick an acting comptroller general to take the reins of the agency until the Senate confirms a permanent replacement. A panel of 10 lawmakers seated on a bipartisan commission is supposed to suggest candidates for Trump to nominate.
Whoever succeeds Dodaro will have to direct ongoing probes into Trump’s funding moves. To date, the agency has issued 11 opinions — five concluding the administration illegally withheld money, two citing some wrongdoing. Dozens are ongoing.
“The worst thing for GAO is to look like you have an agenda. That’s what concerns me about allegations like we’re against the current president’s agenda. We’re not,” he said. “Our job, and most of what we’re doing, is in response to actions they’ve taken. It’s not things we’re bringing up out of nowhere.”
Because the Office of Management and Budget has stonewalled GAO’s requests for information, the agency is forced to rely on evidence in the many lawsuits against the administration, Dodaro said.
Moreover, the GAO head said he has never spoken to Trump’s budget chief, Russ Vought. Multiple attempts to make contact during the first Trump administration were unsuccessful, he added.
“His public comments have led me to believe that wouldn’t be a successful approach here,” Dodaro said of Vought, who on social media this spring accused the office of taking a “partisan role in the first-term impeachment hoax,” a reference to GAO’s conclusion that Trump illegally withheld aid to Ukraine in 2019.
The past 11 months have been politically difficult for Dodaro in other ways. Earlier this year, top Republicans derided GAO for not blessing Senate GOP efforts to skirt filibuster rules to overturn state waivers issued under former President Joe Biden for pollution standards — and ignored the agency’s conclusion to boot.
Dodaro fended off Elon Musk’s attempt to send a downsizing team to GAO as part of the president’s now-disbanded Department of Government Efficiency initiative, before House Republicans proposed cutting the agency’s budget in half for the current fiscal year.
It’s not the first time the comptroller general has irked a party in power. During the Biden administration, GAO delivered its first-ever estimate of fraud in the federal government, pegging losses at between $233 billion and $521 billion dollars a year.
“OMB wasn’t happy,” Dodaro recalled.

Dodaro’s agency doesn’t always disappoint Republicans. Just last week, GOP lawmakers cheered a new GAO report reinforcing their arguments about fraud in the Obamacare insurance marketplace. To investigate this claim, GAO set up 24 fake accounts; 22 successfully enrolled in plans. It ended up costing the federal government thousands of dollars a month.
And Congress has averted several crises as a direct result of the watchdog’s warnings. That includes action to replace crucial weather satellites before they fail and to buoy the federal insurance program designed to protect Americans whose pension benefits are at risk.
“GAO is incredibly valuable … the ability for Congress to ask a hard question and ask them to chase it,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who added that Dodaro has for years aided him in a running effort to compel federal agencies to identify and describe each program they oversee.
Dodaro also started a partnership with experts at the National Academy of Sciences and launched an international effort to help developing countries run audit offices.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who is supposed to serve on the commission to recommend candidates for a Senate-confirmed comptroller general, said lawmakers “won’t find anybody as experienced and as knowledgeable” as Dodaro. “The integrity and professionalism he brought to the job, I thought, was exceptional.”
Dodaro attributes any praise to decades of relationship maintenance, including with top Trump administration officials who used to be members of Congress and senators who formerly served in the House.
“I try to pull out all the stops on my Italian charm,” he joked. “We’re not only in the auditing business. We’re in the relationship business.”
The next comptroller general could be anyone, and it could be a long time before that person is seated. Dodaro is the only Senate-confirmed GAO chief who was picked from inside the agency, and he held the position in an acting capacity for more than two years before then-President Barack Obama nominated him upon the recommendation of lawmakers. The Senate confirmed him by unanimous consent in 2010.
“If it can be done quickly, that’s fine. If it can’t, then they need to take their time to get the right person in the job, because it’s 15 years,” Dodaro said of the selection process for his successor.
“I have great confidence in the people at GAO … and I have confidence in the Congress to take their responsibility seriously and pick someone. This is their person — to serve them.”
Congress
Shutdown likely to continue at least into Tuesday
The partial government shutdown that began early Saturday morning is on track to continue at least into Tuesday, which is the earliest the House is now expected to vote on a $1.2 trillion funding package due to opposition from Democrats and internal GOP strife.
House Republican leaders have scheduled a Monday meeting of the House Rules Committee to prepare the massive Senate-passed spending bill for the floor. According to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, the procedural measure teeing up a final vote would not happen until Tuesday, with final passage following if that is successful.
That’s one day later than GOP leaders had hoped. Their previous plan was to pass the bill with Democratic help under suspension of the rules, a fast-track process requiring a two-thirds-majority vote.
But that plan was complicated by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries telling Speaker Mike Johnson in a private conversation Saturday that Democratic leadership would not help Johnson secure the 70 or so Democratic votes to get the measure over the line, according to the two people and another person granted anonymity to discuss the matter.
The Tuesday plan remains tentative as GOP leaders scramble to navigate tensions inside their own conference, which could make passing the procedural measure difficult. Some conservative hard-liners, for instance, want to attach a sweeping elections bill to the package.
Jeffries said in a MS NOW interview Saturday that Republicans “cannot simply move forward with legislation taking a my way or the highway approach” while noting that House Democrats are set to have “a discussion about the appropriate way forward” in a Sunday evening caucus call — first reported by Blue Light News.
He did not rule out that Democrats might support the Senate-passed spending package, which funds the majority of federal agencies through Sept. 30 while providing a two-week extension for the Department of Homeland Security — including controversial immigration enforcement agencies.
Democrats, Jeffries said, want “a robust, ironclad path to bringing about the type of change that the American people are demanding” in immigration enforcement.
Congress
Here’s what federal programs are headed for a (possibly brief) shutdown
Government funding is set to lapse at midnight Friday for the military and many domestic programs, but cash will continue to flow at a slew of federal agencies Congress already funded.
House leaders are aiming to send a funding package to President Donald Trump Monday, days after the Senate passed the legislation just before the deadline to avert a partial shutdown.
The effect on most federal programs is expected to be minor, and employees who are furloughed would miss just one day of work if the House acts on schedule — which is not assured.
This time, many of the services that have the greatest public impact when shuttered — like farm loans, SNAP food assistance to low-income households and upkeep at national parks — will continue. That’s because Congress already funded some agencies in November and earlier this month, including the departments of Energy, Commerce, Justice, Agriculture, Interior and Veterans Affairs, as well as military construction projects, the EPA, congressional operations, the FDA and federal science programs.
Still, the spending package congressional leaders are trying to clear for Trump’s signature next week contains the vast majority of the funding Congress approves each year to run federal programs, including $839 billion for the military.
Besides the Pentagon, funding will lapse for several major nondefense agencies beginning early Saturday morning.
That includes federal transportation, labor, housing, education and health programs, along with the IRS, independent trade agencies and foreign aid. The departments of Homeland Security, State and Treasury will also be hit by the shutdown.
Congress
Senate passes $1.2T government funding deal — but a brief shutdown is certain
The Senate passed a compromise spending package Friday, clearing a path for Congress to avert a lengthy government shutdown.
The 71-29 vote came a day after Senate Democrats and President Donald Trump struck a deal to attach two weeks of Homeland Security funding to five spending bills that will fund the Pentagon, State Department and many other agencies until Sept. 30.
The Senate’s vote won’t avert a partial shutdown that will start early Saturday morning since House lawmakers are out of town and not scheduled to return until Monday.
During a private call with House Republicans Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson said the likeliest route to House passage would be bringing the package up under a fast-track process Monday evening. That would require a two-thirds majority — and a significant number of Democratic votes.
The $1.2 trillion package could face challenges in the House, especially from conservative hard-liners who have said they would vote against any Senate changes to what the House already passed. Many House Democrats are also wary of stopgap funding for DHS, which would keep ICE and Border Patrol funded at current levels without immediate new restrictions.
If the Trump-blessed deal ultimately gets signed into law, Congress will have approved more than 95 percent of federal funding — leaving only a full-year DHS bill on its to-do list. Congress has already funded several agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and Justice.
“These are fiscally responsible bills that reflect months of hard work and deliberation from members on both parties and both sides of the Capitol,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said before the final vote.
The Office of Management and Budget has issued shutdown guidance for agencies not already funded, which include furloughs of some personnel.
Republicans agreeing to strip out the full-year DHS bill and replace it with a two-week patch is a major win for Democrats. They quickly unified behind a demand to split off and renegotiate immigration enforcement funding after federal agents deployed to Minnesota fatally shot 37-year-old U.S. citizen Alex Pretti last week.
But Democrats will still need to negotiate with the White House and congressional Republicans about what, if any, policy changes they are willing to codify into law as part of a long-term bill. Republicans are open to some changes, including requiring independent investigations. But they’ve already dismissed some of Democrats’ main demands, including requiring judicial warrants for immigration arrests.
“If Republicans are serious about the very reasonable demands Democrats have put forward on ICE, then there is no good reason we can’t come together very quickly to produce legislation. It should take less than two weeks,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday.
Republicans have demands of their own, and many believe the most likely outcome is that another DHS patch will be needed.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), for instance, wants a future vote on legislation barring federal funding for cities that don’t comply with federal immigration laws. Other Republicans and the White House have pointed to it as a key issue in the upcoming negotiations.
“I am demanding that my solution to fixing sanctuary cities at least have a vote. You’re going to put ideas on the floor to make ICE better? I want to put an idea on the floor to get to the root cause of the problem,” Graham said.
The Senate vote caps off a days-long sprint to avoid a second lengthy shutdown in the span of four months. Senate Democrats and Trump said Thursday they had a deal, only for it to run into a snag when Graham delayed a quick vote as he fumed over a provision in the bill, first reported by POLITICO, related to former special counsel Jack Smith’s now-defunct investigation targeting Trump.
Senate leaders ultimately got the agreement back on track Friday afternoon by offering votes on seven changes to the bill, all of which failed. The Senate defeated proposals to cut refugee assistance, strip out all earmarks from the package and redirect funding for ICE to Medicaid, among others.
Graham raged against the House’s move to overturn a law passed last year allowing senators to sue for up to $500,000 per incident if their data had been used in former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the 2020 election. But he backed off his threats to hold up the bill after announcing that leaders had agreed to support a future vote on the matter.
“You jammed me,” Graham said on the floor Friday. “Speaker Johnson, I won’t forget this.”
Meredith Lee Hill and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
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