Will Congress stand up for itself after Trump repeatedly trampled on its appropriations powers?
“Beyond the merits,” as they like to say in Washington, two things stand out most for Congress when it comes to President Trump’s now famous July phone chat with Ukraine’s leader.
First, the revelations cut to the bone for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, given her roots in the same House committees most offended by the president’s conduct. Second, the call made patsies of prominent Senate Republicans, left hanging after they had tried to defend Trump’s handling of the Ukraine situation just weeks before.
The big question for both parties going forward is whether they’ll begin to reassert Congress’ power through the appropriations process. If not impeachment, are Senate Republicans embarrassed or troubled enough by Trump’s power grabs now to take a page from their Conservative Party kin across the pond in Britain, reasserting Parliament against their own Trump, Prime Minister Boris Johnson?
In the case of Pelosi, the California Democrat spent more than a decade on the House Appropriations Committee — including time on the panel charged with foreign aid. From 1993 to 2003, she was also on the House Intelligence Committee and has continued to play an active role in her ex officio status as a House leader.
Without doubt, she was influenced this week by the shifting currents in her caucus on impeachment. But when she spoke of a “grave new chapter of lawlessness,” it was also as Nancy Pelosi the legislator, not just as a political leader.
For Senate Republicans, the picture is more complicated. But some are having second thoughts after allowing Trump to run roughshod over Congress’ appropriations power.
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Will Congress stand up for itself after Trump repeatedly trampled on its appropriations powers? https://t.co/mttHkgWb4G
— POLITICO (@politico) September 27, 2019
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