House Dems Consider Flexing Their Power of the Purse in Trump Oversight Battles: Report
Budget

House Dems Consider Flexing Their Power of the Purse in Trump Oversight Battles: Report

Zach Gibson

House Democrats are considering using their power of the purse to pressure the Trump administration into complying with their subpoenas for documents and testimony, Axios’s Alayna Treene and David Nather reported Sunday. The idea, in a nutshell, would involve adding provisions in appropriations measures that would restrict funds to a department that isn’t complying with congressional subpoenas — but discussions about how and whether to do so have reportedly only been preliminary.

The bottom line: Given the time it takes to pass spending bills, the tactic wouldn’t likely to lead to quick results, a House appropriations aide tells Axios. “It's a move that has a high risk of failure, since appropriations bills have to be approved by a Republican-held Senate and signed by the president,” Treene and Nather write. “But given the Trump administration's determination to resist all of the Democrats' oversight efforts, and the prospect that court fights could take years, they're being forced to consider every tool they might have.” 

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