As President Donald Trump tried to freeze all federal spending this week, congressional Republicans reduced themselves to mere set pieces—porn set pieces, to be precise, according to former Obama aides turned podcasters.
With Republican lawmakers defending the chaotic—and legally questionable—freeze, Pod Save America host Jon Favreau wondered during Friday’s episode why they even bothered to hold office.
“Why do these people want their jobs? Just like go make money somewhere. You probably make more money in the private sector,” he said. “What are you doing [in office]? You’re not making any decisions on your own. You’re just there to like fl-ff Donald Trump.”
On Monday, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget issued an order freezing all federal grant and loan payments, leading to widespread chaos about funding for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, student loans, food stamps, and other key programs. A federal judge halted the freeze on Tuesday, and the White House announced it was rescinding the order.
Although many legal scholars blasted the move as an unconstitutional interference with Congress’ budgetary powers, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he “fully” supported the freeze and thought it was well within Trump’s executive authority, Politico reported.
Host Dan Pfeiffer said he was not surprised the OMB had issued the order, since the office was hand-picked by Trump. But he called it “alarming” that Johnson would hand off Congress’ most important power for influencing policy.
Favreau agreed that all but three or four Senate Republicans seemed to think Trump won the election and therefore should have unlimited power, and their only job was to appear on “regime media channels” and “cheer him on,” he said.
Presidents can delay spending certain money or they can decide not to spend extra money, but they can’t just ignore congressional spending that they disagree with, he added.
