Backdoor Funding of Homeland Security Agency Could Weaken Congress Anew
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The Bottom Line
Republicans plan to fund DHS through alternative mechanisms that bypass Senate filibuster rules, shifting budget power from Congress to the executive branch.
AI Summary
Republicans are developing a strategy to fund the Department of Homeland Security without traditional congressional appropriations, circumventing a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. The plan would allow the Trump administration to finance an entire federal agency through alternative legislative mechanisms, avoiding the need for a 60-vote supermajority required for most legislation. Such an approach would represent another shift of budgetary power away from Congress to the executive branch, continuing a decades-long trend of the legislative branch ceding fiscal control. The tactic reflects the Republican majority's frustration with Senate rules that require bipartisan agreement on appropriations bills, but critics argue it sets a precedent that weakens Congress's constitutional power of the purse regardless of which party controls the White House.
What's Being Done
Republicans are developing legislative strategy to circumvent traditional congressional appropriations processes requiring 60-vote supermajority.
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Backdoor Funding of Homeland Security Agency Could Weaken Congress Anew - The New York Times
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