While President Trump and Elon Musk further cut federal programs and the workforce, GOP lawmakers are using their connections to try to isolate themselves and their constituents.
Listen to this article · 10:01 min. Learn more
- Share the full article
- 356356
Republicans who control Congress have made no formal effort to challenge or question the actions of President Trump and Elon Musk.
Representative Tom Cole, a Republican from Oklahoma, learned that his district could lose its local Social Security Administration office and the National Weather Center's main storm forecasting center the same way so many other Americans did: through a publicly accessible web page that the Department of Government Effectiveness calls a “wall of receipts.”
Mr. Cole, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which oversees federal spending, moved quickly to try to stave off the cuts. He and his aides began calling their staffs at DOGE, the White House and the federal agencies responsible for the facilities targeted for cuts, including the Indian Health Service field office.
Within days, a DOGE employee assured Mr. Cole that the three buildings had been removed from the lease cancellation list. Mr. Cole boasted of his success on social media, saying he was “so proud” to have stood up for his constituents and the protected properties that provide them with “vital and valuable services.”
Republicans who control Congress have made few formal efforts to challenge or scrutinize the actions of President Trump and Elon Musk as they move forward with a fast and aggressive proposal to shrink government, trampling the legislative branch’s spending powers in the process. But when it comes to cuts that affect their districts and states, some have stepped up their efforts to fight back privately, even as they publicly applaud the broader push to reform what they call a “bloated” bureaucracy.
ImageRepresentative Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, and his staff have gone directly to the Department of Government Efficiency to reverse the cuts in his district. Credit: Eric Lee/The New York Times
The trend highlights a distinct shift in how Congress operates in Mr. Trump’s second term. Because Republican lawmakers have largely ceded their power to the executive branch, effectively giving up the institutional ability to check the president, they are relying instead on individual relationships to shield themselves and their constituents from the adverse impact of his actions.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we check access. If you are in Reading Mode, please sign out and sign in to your Times account or subscribe to all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we check access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want to receive every issue of The Times? Subscribe.
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Source: Source
