{"id":13286,"date":"2025-10-20T10:58:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T02:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13286"},"modified":"2025-10-23T09:22:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T01:22:34","slug":"trump-steamrolls-gop-congress-during-shutdown-to-implement-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13286","title":{"rendered":"Trump steamrolls GOP Congress during shutdown to implement agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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President Trump and the White House are increasingly sidelining Congress during the government shutdown, escalating a trend of an emboldened executive branch during Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the shutdown began, the administration has canceled or frozen previously approved funding for projects in blue states; threatened to withhold back pay for furloughed workers; carried out additional strikes on Venezuelan drug boats while providing limited information to lawmakers; and reappropriated funds from tariffs that were imposed without congressional approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House has also in recent days laid off thousands of workers and threatened to eliminate certain programs amid the shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump earlier in his term used a \u201cpocket rescission\u201d to unilaterally claw back billions of dollars in previously approved spending, and he has imposed sweeping tariffs that have prompted pushback from some lawmakers who argue he is overstepping his authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican-led congressional majorities have been almost entirely deferential to Trump in the process, giving the president carte blanche to carry out his agenda with little resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a trend that\u2019s been true with both Democratic and Republican presidents and congressional majorities, and this administration \u2026 is willing to take it to the next degree,\u201d said Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at George Washington University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresidents are mostly as powerful as their Congress allows them to be, and right now we have a Congress that seems willing to let this president escalate what we\u2019ve seen across administrations,\u201d Burgat said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tariffs
Trump has pressed ahead with imposing widespread tariffs on imports, despite protests from some in Congress that he is exceeding his presidential authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House has argued that Trump has the constitutional authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Trump has imposed tariffs on dozens of countries, as well as specific goods, by citing national security concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But critics have argued that tariffs amount to a tax on American consumers and that the president\u2019s use of them violates Congress\u2019s role to levy taxes and control spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tariffs have been a rare area where senators have attempted to rein in Trump\u2019s actions. An August Senate vote to scrap Trump\u2019s wide-ranging tariffs on dozens of countries narrowly failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it\u2019s up to the Supreme Court to determine whether the tariffs can proceed, or if they will be unwound. Trump told reporters Wednesday that he may attend arguments in the case at the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t have the use of tariffs, we have no national security. This country will have no financial security. \u2026 That\u2019s why I think I\u2019m gonna go to the Supreme Court to watch it,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reappropriating and clawing back funds
Trump has trampled over Congress\u2019s traditional power of the purse in other ways beyond tariffs, including in recent days as the government shutdown threatened pay for military members and funding for certain programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration has announced it is canceling green energy projects and freezing previously approved funds for transportation projects in Democrat-led cities and states. The stated rationale is that those projects no longer comply with executive orders Trump issued around diversity initiatives, nor do they align with his agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump just before the shutdown deployed a rarely used measure known as a pocket rescission to unilaterally cut roughly $5 billion in congressionally approved funding. The cuts, which sparked bipartisan criticism, mostly targeted State Department funding for programs officials said did not align with Trump\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, Trump has sought to move around funding to pay for other things, raising questions about his authority to repurpose congressionally approved money without approval from lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House said Trump would use money brought in from tariffs, which were imposed without congressional approval or input, to cover a funding shortfall for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president also signed an order directing the Pentagon to use funds for other purposes, namely research and development funding, to pay members of the military who otherwise would have missed a paycheck because of the government shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Democrats shut down the federal government and are holding the American people hostage to give illegal aliens taxpayer benefits,\u201d White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on social platform X. \u201cSo President Trump took action by using tariff revenue to fund the women, infants, and children program and his Commander in Chief authority to ensure our troops get paid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venezuelan boat strikes
Trump has also brushed off questions about congressional approval when it comes to military strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have announced five strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea in recent months, with the latest coming this past Tuesday. The strikes have killed 27 people in total, according to administration officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, the president informed Congress that the U.S. is in an armed conflict with drug cartels characterized as terrorist groups by the administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats have objected to the strikes, arguing Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally carry out the strikes under his Article II authority. A resolution to halt the strikes, led by Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), failed in a 48-51 vote earlier this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are given information that they were loaded up with drugs,\u201d Trump said Wednesday when asked about congressional pushback. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the thing that matters. When they\u2019re loaded up with drugs, they\u2019re fair game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump on Wednesday also explained why he has not allowed the Coast Guard to stop suspected drug boats, which it has the authority to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt never worked when you did it in a very politically correct manner,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThe boats get hit and you see that fentanyl all over the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presidents have for years been expanding their war powers, carrying out strikes without first gaining congressional approval. But the Venezuela strikes have raised additional legal questions about whether they violate international law, and whether it opens up a slippery slope for future military action on the seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Layoffs, back pay and eliminating programs
Trump has utilized the shutdown as an impetus to dramatically shrink the size of the federal government, with officials suggesting the final total of those dismissed could top 10,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While laying off federal employees is not something that requires congressional approval, the administration has still ignored calls from some in Congress to refrain from doing so. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was among the lawmakers who warned that the widespread layoffs could negatively impact services their constituents rely on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House has also floated that furloughed workers may not get back pay for time away from the job during the shutdown. While many lawmakers have noted that would violate a law passed at the end of the last shutdown in 2019, some top Republicans have suggested the administration may have an argument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has also threatened to eliminate government programs that he determines Democrats like. The president said he would release a list of \u201cDemocratic programs\u201d that would be targeted, while promising \u201cRepublican programs\u201d would be unaffected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Democrats are getting killed in the shutdown, because we\u2019re closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we\u2019re opposed to,\u201d Trump said Tuesday. \u201cAnd they\u2019re never going to come back, in many cases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers have contended that shuttering certain government agencies, such as the Education Department or the U.S. Agency for International Development, require congressional approval. But that has not stopped Trump from pushing forward with efforts to gut those agencies anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump and the White House are increasingly sidelining Congress during the government shutdown, escalating a trend of an emboldened executive branch during Trump\u2019s second term. Since the shutdown began, the administration has canceled or frozen previously approved funding for projects in blue states; threatened to withhold back pay for furloughed workers; carried out additional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":13288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1888,2062,1724],"class_list":["post-13286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-congress","tag-shutdown","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump steamrolls GOP Congress during shutdown to implement agenda - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13286\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump steamrolls GOP Congress during shutdown to implement agenda - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Trump and the White House are increasingly sidelining Congress during the government shutdown, escalating a trend of an emboldened executive branch during Trump\u2019s second term. 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