Ever mindful of how bad it was to live under a king and therefore fearful of granting the new nation’s chief executive too much power, our Founding Fathers gave to Congress, not to the president, its two greatest powers, found in Article I of the Constitution: the power to declare war; and the power to decide and control federal spending.
Neither exists anymore. Congress surrendered its power to declare war in 1950, when President Truman, without consulting Congress, sent U.S. troops to the Korean peninsula to repel North Korea’s attack on South Korea. And Congress surrendered its “power of the purse” last week, when only three Democrats — two senators and one House member — voted for final passage of the GOP budget act, giving President Trump and Elon Musk almost blanket authority over all federal spending.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) infuriated many of his fellow Democrats by attacking the Republicans’ budget bill one day, and then announcing he’d vote for allowing it to proceed the next. And not just fringe Democrats, either. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) were among those who accused Schumer of selling out.
Which he did, and Democrats were right to protest loudly. Schumer tried to defend his decision by insisting Democrats had only two choices: either shutting down the government or going along with a bad bill. The bill sucks, he argued, but a government shutdown sucks worse. So, without putting up a fight, he simply surrendered.
Schumer was right about one thing. A government shutdown would have been a disaster, which Trump could easily blame on Democrats. But he was wrong about everything else. Democrats weren’t limited to a shut down or bad bill. They had at least two other alternatives. One, as Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) advocated, was pushing for a four-week extension, during which time both sides could hammer out a bipartisan solution. The other was simply to fight like hell.
Even if they eventually lost the battle, Democrats could have used that time to let the public know how dangerous the Republican budget plan is. It guts funding for health care, increases military spending while slashing $13 billion in domestic spending, and funds mass deportations.
It cuts a number of vital programs, like: $1.4 billion from the Army Corps of Engineers for projects to mitigate the impacts of hurricanes and floods; $800 million for construction of new facilities to serve veterans; $280 million in life-saving biomedical research at the National Institute of Health; $30 million in assistance to farmers for conservation activities; $30 million for extension of broadband in rural counties; and no new funding for FEMA’s disaster relief program, which is out of money after last year’s disastrous tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires.
But, as noted above, the budget bill does much more lasting damage than cutting critical programs. In effect, it gives the White House a “blank check” over how taxpayer dollars are spent: authority to shutter dozens of federal agencies created by Congress, eliminate thousands of jobs approved by Congress and shift funds allocated by Congress for one purpose to anything else the administration wants.
Basically, by passing that bill, Congress put itself out of a job. Schumer wasn’t the only one to surrender. Congress also surrendered its constitutional “power of the purse” to the executive branch. And one thing is for certain: Like loss of the power to declare war, once Congress gives up that power, they’ll never get it back.
Forget the separation of powers. The Supreme Court has already granted Trump at least partial immunity. And now Republicans in Congress have surrendered control of federal spending. We’ve reached the point where there’s only one branch of government left: an all-powerful executive branch.
Bill Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.” Follow him on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.
