GOP steps aside as Trump challenges Congress’ power: A Constitutional Crisis

President Donald Trump has declared an all-out war on congressional power. And his allies on Capitol Hill aren’t doing much to fend off the invasion.

From firing a slate of inspectors general to changing citizenship qualifications to delaying a ban on the TikTok app, the president is running roughshod over Congress in his first week back in office. The effort culminated Monday night with a budget office memo freezing “all federal financial assistance” pending a review by administration political appointees.

Constitutional Crisis Unfolds

The effort represents a frontal assault on the legislative branch’s core constitutional power to raise and spend federal funds — the “power of the purse” that has been zealously protected by generations of congressional leaders of both parties. A federal judge temporarily blocked the move Tuesday.

Yet many senior Republicans quickly fell in line, brushing off the implications of the freeze — with some saying they expected it to be narrowed and many others defending it as Trump simply making good on his electoral mandate.

“You need to understand, he was elected to shake up the status quo,” said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), calling the Office of Management and Budget order “exactly what he was elected to do.”

“I think it’s a long time coming,” added House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.). “I hope this sets a precedent.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) also downplayed the freeze as a “preliminary step,” describing it as “a normal practice at the beginning of the administration until they have an opportunity to review how the money is being spent.” (He later called for “additional clarity” from the White House.)

Democrats, meanwhile, declared the situation nothing short of a “constitutional crisis,” as Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) told reporters Tuesday. Party leaders said state attorneys general were readying lawsuits to challenge the freeze, and they called for the cancellation of a planned committee vote on Trump’s budget director nominee, Russ Vought.

House Democrats have scheduled a Wednesday meeting to launch a “comprehensive three-pronged counteroffensive” to include litigation, legislation and a “Day of Action” to raise alarms about the funding halt.

“This is the most serious assault on the constitutional separation of powers and the authority of our Congress in the history of the country,” said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats. “I can never recall a time where the executive essentially tried to usurp the clear constitutional authority of Congress to authorize and fund programs.”

Trump’s actions amount to the most significant test yet of just how much deference he can expect out of the Republican congressional majorities. Already he has shown that he is dealing with a strikingly more malleable GOP than he had when he was last inaugurated in 2017 and there was a significant element of the party — including then-leaders Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan — willing to buck his wishes.

While top leaders including Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson minimized the threat to the institution they lead, there was more ambivalence to be found further down the GOP ranks.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a Trump ally, said the president was “testing his own authority” and would soon back away.

“Clearly an all-encompassing freeze on grant programs and appropriations can’t long endure,” he said. “They’ll go through it, probably item by item, line by line, budget by budget. Who knows how they’ll do it. But, for now, it’s a pretty major test of separation of powers.”

Trump officials have called some GOP lawmakers who have voiced concerns, telling them to stop, according to two people familiar with the private conversations who were granted anonymity to describe them. But many still weren’t shy about describing mass confusion they encountered overnight Monday, with bewildered constituents flooding their phone lines.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in an interview that he woke up at the House GOP retreat at Trump’s Miami-area resort to text messages from constituents worried about Trump’s order.

“For people, this is their livelihood,” Bacon said, adding that ”it’s already appropriated money” and that he hoped the freeze was “short-lived.”

“So they just gotta realize,” he added of the Trump administration, “when you come in with a sledgehammer, there’s some frag.”

GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of flood-ravaged North Carolina expressed concerns about disaster relief funding: “I can’t imagine that the president would knowingly cut off housing assistance from people displaced from their homes.” And Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said her office’s phones were “ringing off the hook all morning” with calls from people “wondering what it means, how long it’s gonna last.”

The spending freeze could have immediate governing implications for Republicans. With just over six weeks until federal funding expires, they are faced with the tricky business of negotiating a fiscal 2025 spending deal with Democrats.

With Trump now exercising the power to hold up federal spending, even briefly, those Democrats are warning that those talks are in peril — to say nothing of the additional need to raise the nation’s debt limit in the coming months.

“Can you imagine what it’s going to be like … if those agreements mean nothing? That somebody can sit back and say, ‘Sure, I’ll give you that,’ knowing full well that their president’s in power and they will keep the funding out?” Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) asked Tuesday. “We cannot function as a democracy in this country if we cannot respect and abide by our ability to make agreements in Congress.”

In a sign of the anger over the freeze, 22 Senate Democrats voted to oppose Sean Duffy’s confirmation as Transportation secretary Tuesday after supporting him in a procedural vote the day prior, before the budget memo was released.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) aired concerns about the move Tuesday, calling it “far too sweeping” and for the administration to take a “more selective” approach. Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that he was in touch with the White House trying to get more information about the order’s impact but defended the attempt to rein in spending in general terms.

“You know, Trump promised to shake up the government,” he said. “I don’t mind him looking at the programs. I just want to know what the metrics are. What the timetables are.”

That was a frequent refrain from other Republicans, who effectively shrugged off Monday night’s memo despite Trump and his top allies making clear over many months that they have been readying to sidestep Congress on spending cuts.

“Just because it gets paused doesn’t mean it won’t get funded, and the ones that are funded are funded in a better way, more in line with our priorities,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.).

Few in the top GOP echelon showed much concern about political backlash — or what might happen next time Democrats are in charge.

Emmer’s advice for anxious Republicans? “Get on the team.”