A Tumultuous Start
Minibus Moves Forward
Congress appears set to pass at least one more package of funding bills ahead of the Jan. 30 deadline, but the actions of the Administration this week raise the concern this may be the last one. The House passed the three-bill minibus of Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science by a vote of 397-28, a somewhat astounding tally given the bills’ rejection of the Administration’s budget and where Congress was just weeks ago on government funding.
Of particular note in the bill text was the more prescriptive language on spending and prohibitions on reprogramming without Congressional notification. The bills also blocked the Administration from cutting payments for indirect costs to federal grantees within the Department of Energy, NASA and the National Science Foundation. This language echoes statutory text protecting NIH from similar cuts that was just upheld in court this week.
The bill heads to the Senate next week, where it is expected to pass. After that, Congress will have six appropriations bills remaining: Defense, Financial Services-General Government, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS, State-Foreign Operations and Transportation-HUD. But the actions this week by the Administration show it seems to be doing everything it can to stop Congress from reaching an agreement.
Child Care Freeze and ICE Shooting Stall Further Progress
Democrats very early staked out the position that they would not support another government shutdown at the end of January. In response, apparently in the belief they will not face a rebuke from Congress, the Trump Administration seems to be reveling in taking more extreme actions by the day.
In the first case, fatal shootings at the hands of ICE, in Minneapolis, and Border Patrol, in Portland, this week have disrupted further negotiations on the Homeland Security funding bill, with Democratic lawmakers calling for additional oversight over DHS. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) has introduced a proposal calling for reforms to DHS, including requiring arrest warrants, prohibiting masks during arrests, and limiting border patrol to areas along the U.S. borders. It’s difficult to see Democrats going along with a full-year bill for DHS without addressing the issues Sen. Murphy raises.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s continued use of OMB for political retribution took another step this week when the Administration announced it would freeze child care funding to five states – California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York – alleging the possibility of fraud. The funds total more than $10 billion, including $7.35 billion in funding for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), $2.4 billion in Child Care and Development Fund money, and $870 million in Social Services Block Grant funding (see this blog post from First Focus).
By Thursday, the five states had sued the Administration, alleging the Administration “lacked a legitimate justification for the funding freeze, failed to provide evidence to support its fraud concerns and infringed on Congress’s power over spending as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.” Again, it’s hard to see how Democrats in Congress would go along with passing a Labor-HHS funding bill (and therefore a Defense bill, since the two are often paired) without addressing the Administration's illegal actions to ignore Congressional spending directives.
