Many Democrats and legal scholars contend that Trump’s budget maneuvers violate the Constitution, which vest the powers to tax and spend with Congress, not the executive branch. The spending interruptions have also prompted a wave of court challenges as state officials, nonprofits and other federal aid recipients say the White House has acted illegally.
On Tuesday, Gene L. Dodaro, comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office, revealed at a congressional hearing that his office had opened “39 different investigations” into the administration. He suggested some of the focus was on cuts or changes to spending at the Education Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other major federal offices.
Under a 1970s law, the GAO has the power to investigate whether an administration has improperly withheld authorized funding in defiance of Congress. The watchdog has the power to sue if it finds the administration illegally impounds funds.
Dodaro did not signal how his office might proceed. He told lawmakers that some federal agencies had not been “responsive” to his requests for information, while the White House’s budget office had largely ignored his entreaties.
“We’re trying to get information from the agencies about what their legal position is for not expending the money,” Dodaro said.
He acknowledged the inquiries after questioning from Senator Patty Murray, Democrat from Washington, who leads her party on the chamber’s top appropriations panel. Earlier Tuesday, Murray and her counterpart in the House, Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat from Connecticut, issued the estimate that more than $400 billion in congressionally appropriated funds had been slowed or blocked under Trump.
NEW YORK TIMES
Hegseth dismantles ‘woke’ program for women Trump signed into law
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boasted on social media Tuesday that he had dismantled a program supporting women on security teams, an initiative that he called “woke” but actually was signed into law by his boss, President Trump.
In a post on the social platform X, Hegseth called the “Women, Peace & Security” program at the Defense Department “a UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists. Politicians fawn over it; troops HATE it.”
It was, in fact, bipartisan legislation that Trump signed into law in 2017 that recognized the role women have in achieving security goals, especially overseas when their male counterparts may not be able to question or have direct access to women for cultural or religious reasons.
A spokesman for Hegseth did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the secretary’s post.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Some Biden-era Holocaust Museum board members are fired
The Trump administration has begun firing at least some of former president Joe Biden’s appointees to the board that oversees the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, including Douglas Emhoff, the husband of former Vice President Kamala Harris, and other senior Biden White House officials.
“Today, I was informed of my removal from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,” Emhoff said in a statement Tuesday. “Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized. To turn one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue is dangerous — and it dishonors the memory of 6 million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve.”
Emhoff is Jewish and an outspoken critic of the rise in antisemitism. His appointment to the council was announced in January; presidential appointments are typically five-year terms.
The other officials who were dismissed include Ron Klain, Biden’s first chief of staff; Tom Perez, the former labor secretary and senior adviser to Biden; Susan Rice, the national security adviser to former president Barack Obama and Biden’s top domestic policy adviser who led a major national strategic effort to counter antisemitism; and Anthony Bernal, a senior adviser to Jill Biden.
Biden made many appointments over the years, and it was not immediately clear how many others had been fired.
“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council is terminated, effective immediately,” Mary Sprowls, who works in the White House Presidential Personnel Office, wrote in an email to officials Tuesday morning. “Thank you for your service.”
NEW YORK TIMES
Ex-senator Perdue confirmed as ambassador to China
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed former senator David Perdue as ambassador to China, just as the United States and China are locked in a tariff showdown that threatens to redefine diplomatic relations between the world’s two largest economies.
Perdue, a Republican who served one term as a US senator from Georgia, was confirmed 67-29 with some Democratic support. At his confirmation hearing this month, the former business executive called the US relationship with China the “most consequential diplomatic challenge of the 21st century.”
“Our approach to China should be nuanced, nonpartisan and strategic,” Perdue said.
President Trump, who selected Perdue in December, slapped 145 percent tariffs on Chinese goods this month, and Beijing retaliated by charging 125 percent tariffs on US products, with no sign for any immediate climbdown.
While the Trump administration appears to be betting that the high tariffs will not be sustainable for the Chinese economy and will bring Beijing to the negotiating table, the Chinese leadership has vowed to “fight to the end.” China is readjusting domestic policies to expand the domestic market and reduce reliance on the United States.
“No matter how the global situation changes, we will anchor our development goals, maintain our strategic focus and concentrate efforts on doing our own work,” said Zhao Chenxin, vice chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
Perdue will arrive in a China that is increasingly challenging US global dominance. Chinese forces are more assertive in the Taiwan Strait as well as in the South China Sea, and the country has risen to be a near-peer competitor in areas such as artificial intelligence and humanoid robots. The Trump administration is set to get tougher on tech competitions while seeking ways to prevent any military confrontation with Beijing, though there has been a mutual distrust, especially over flashpoints such as the future of the self-governed island of Taiwan.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
