Why Isn't Congress Doing Anything?

(The Atlantic) Republicans in Congress have largely wasted the first month of their new majorities bickering over how much spending to cut, which issues to prioritize, and how many bills to put forward. Whether they have the votes to enact their ambitious agenda remains unclear, but they’ve shown that they have just enough to fulfill an equally important purpose: make sure President Donald Trump can wage his assault on the federal government unimpeded.

Under the GOP’s watch, Congress has put up virtually no resistance while Trump and Elon Musk have shut down agencies, sidelined thousands of federal employees, and stopped congressionally approved payments. Instead of protecting their constitutional authority over spending, Republicans have cheered Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and mocked Democrats for their protests. “In hopes of finding themselves,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Tuesday, “they’ve latched on to this new, shiny object called the rule of law.”

The GOP’s acquiescence is one more sign of how tightly Trump now controls his party. But it also reveals something fundamental about Republicans’ haphazard attempts over the past two decades to reduce the size and scope of government. For all of the party’s fulminating about the nation’s debt and deficits, Republican lawmakers have shied away from taking votes to slash spending that could prove unpopular with voters. Now they’re content to let someone else gut the government for them—and take whatever political heat comes with it.

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