President Trump and the White House are increasingly sidelining Congress during the government shutdown, escalating a trend of an emboldened executive branch during Trump’s second term.

Since the shutdown began, the administration has canceled or frozen previously approved funding for projects in blue states; threatened to withhold back pay for furloughed workers; carried out additional strikes on Venezuelan drug boats while providing limited information to lawmakers; and reappropriated funds from tariffs that were imposed without congressional approval.

The White House has also in recent days laid off thousands of workers and threatened to eliminate certain programs amid the shutdown.

Trump earlier in his term used a “pocket rescission” to unilaterally claw back billions of dollars in previously approved spending, and he has imposed sweeping tariffs that have prompted pushback from some lawmakers who argue he is overstepping his authority.

Republican-led congressional majorities have been almost entirely deferential to Trump in the process, giving the president carte blanche to carry out his agenda with little resistance.

“This is a trend that’s been true with both Democratic and Republican presidents and congressional majorities, and this administration … is willing to take it to the next degree,” said Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at George Washington University.

“Presidents are mostly as powerful as their Congress allows them to be, and right now we have a Congress that seems willing to let this president escalate what we’ve seen across administrations,” Burgat said.

Tariffs

Trump has pressed ahead with imposing widespread tariffs on imports, despite protests from some in Congress that he is exceeding his presidential authority.

The White House has argued that Trump has the constitutional authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Trump has imposed tariffs on........

© The Hill