There are really three political parties in Washington, according to an old saying: Democrats, Republicans and appropriators.
The latter aremembers of Congress lucky enough to get placed on the powerful committees that dole out roughly $1.6 trillion in federal funds for the military and government serviceseach year. They have traditionally shared a common goal of jealously guarding their tremendous ability to steer federal resources. It’s a bond that often defies the political rules of gravity that govern everything else on Capitol Hill.
But now, those ties are being tested like never before: The White House was aggressively encroaching on Congress’s power of the purse even before it began using the ongoinggovernment shutdown as justification for rolling back billions more in spending.
Democratic, and many Republican, appropriators are angry at Trump’s White House for unilaterally canceling contracts, abruptly freezing billions of dollars in congressionallysanctioned funding and trying out a “pocket rescission” technique to permanently withhold $5 billionin foreign aidwithout congressional input.
Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, have largely swallowed those concerns out of fealty to President Donald Trump. In the process, they have allowed their power to erode.
“The administration is taking all the reins and Congress doesn’t really have a say on anything,” said Fred Upton, the Republican from Michigan who chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee until 2017. “No one’s putting their hand up to say ‘stop.’ It’s just happening.”…