Earlier this month, GOP senators overwhelmingly agreed to a bipartisan government funding bill that would temporarily block the Trump administration from finalizing a federal rule to let political appointees steer money toward grants \u201caligned with the president\u2019s agenda.\u201d The House could clear that bill next month, and Trump is expected to sign it to avert a shutdown before the midterms. <\/p>\n

And while the days of widespread funding freezes might be over, the Trump administration continues to create new rules for federal grants and then deny funding based on them \u2014 only to be repeatedly shot down in court this summer. <\/p>\n

Lawmakers in both parties have also blasted White House budget director Russ Vought this year for delaying the release of cash for congressionally backed programs for antipoverty services, foreign assistance, banking in underserved areas and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress has appropriated money, and you don\u2019t have the authority to impound it,\u201d Sen. Chuck Grassley<\/a> (R-Iowa) chastised Vought<\/a> this spring over the withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars the Trump administration is supposed to send quarterly to states.<\/p>\n

Now Republicans are watching for clues about whether Vought, between now and Sept. 30, will claim the authority to nix appropriations in the final weeks of the fiscal year through what\u2019s known as a pocket recession. He used the move last year to unilaterally cancel $4.9 billion<\/a> in foreign aid through the legally dubious maneuver.<\/p>\n

\u201cPocket rescissions would be a very interesting way to curry favor with the legislative branch \u2014 especially the one part of the legislative branch which has delivered on all of the administration’s shit,\u201d Rep. Mark Amodei<\/a> of Nevada, a senior Republican appropriator, said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the White House needs the support of GOP appropriators in both chambers to advance Trump administration priorities.<\/p>\n

Those top lawmakers have already taken some modest steps to stop the White House from shirking Congress\u2019 intent on spending by inserting stricter language into bipartisan funding bills Trump signed into law for the current fiscal year. That included new rules for shifting money between accounts and more explicit instructions for how dollars should be spent.<\/p>\n

Some Republican lawmakers have also been resisting the administration\u2019s push this summer to enact billions of dollars for the military and agriculture programs through another party-line budget reconciliation package. Top House Republican appropriators slammed the White House<\/a> in June for pursuing a \u201crisky and uncoordinated\u201d strategy to enact funding for the Iran war through a party-line bill that\u2019s not guaranteed to pass.<\/p>\n

Relying on the reconciliation process to skirt the Senate filibuster is a key step to achieve the “paradigm shift\u201d<\/a> Vought has touted throughout Trump\u2019s second term, designed to make funding negotiations \u201cless bipartisan\u201d<\/a> so Republicans don\u2019t have to agree to nondefense increases in order to get enough votes to boost military budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt what point did we stop legislating?\u201d Sen. Lisa Murkowski<\/a> (R-Alaska), another senior appropriator, said last month after Vought privately pitched Senate Republicans<\/a> on the latest party-line plan, which would inherently take funding power away from the appropriations committees.<\/p>\n

Murkowski was also among the Senate Republicans who chided the White House for not seeking input from lawmakers before forging ahead with its plan to put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants and minimize the role of the objective peer-review process for selecting recipients of those dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no consultation at all,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you start issuing grants based on political connections, that\u2019s not good for the system here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins<\/a> (R-Maine) publicly called on Vought to extend the public comment period for the plan last month, to no avail.<\/p>\n

She also continues to pan the pocket rescission gambit, saying in a recent interview that the administration should \u201cgo through the proper process with the Appropriations Committee\u201d if it wants to rescind money intended for a specific program.<\/p>\n