Trump administration asks for $105 billion in talks to dodge shutdown
The Trump administration wants Congress to add $105 billion in spending if it extends current government funding laws on a temporary basis to avert a shutdown.
Lawmakers face a Sept. 30 deadline to pass legislation to keep the government open, but they’re locked in negotiations that go beyond just what the government should spend.
President Donald Trump and White House budget director Russell Vought have claimed broad authority to rewrite the president’s role in the nation’s finances. The Constitution grants Congress the sole authority to levy new taxes and spend money. The Trump administration has said it has the power to “impound” money, or block it from going out the door even after Congress has approved the spending.
Congressional Democrats said Monday that the White House was blocking more than $410 billion from the current fiscal year’s budget, and liberals are resistant to making a bipartisan deal on government funding while Trump insists he can override those laws if he disagrees.
The impasse is leading lawmakers to consider a stopgap spending agreement, called a continuing resolution or CR, to keep funding the government at current levels until new long-term spending can be set. The White House on Tuesday asked for additional sums that it says are necessary for certain programs to continue operating during that holdover period.
It requested $80 billion for the International Development Finance Corporation, a federal organization that invests in low- and middle-income countries, according to a copy of the request obtained by the Washington Post.
The administration also asked for $8.2 billion to top off anti-poverty nutrition benefits for women, infants and children, known as WIC, and nearly $4 billion to build a Columbia-class nuclear submarine.
Congress, at Trump’s request, passed a law along party lines to rescind $9.4 billion in federal funds for foreign aid and federal broadcasting; the cancellation of that spending is carried into Tuesday’s request.
The White House also asked Congress to plug a hole in D.C.’s budget by allowing the city to spend funds it collected from local taxes and fees. The GOP-controlled House in March passed short-term spending legislation that prevented the city from accessing those funds – a move that lawmakers acknowledged was a mistake. The Senate passed a fix, but the House has yet to follow suit.
Representatives from the White House Office of Management and Budget did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tacking additional spending on to a CR is not uncommon; agencies responding to emergencies or those that had particularly turbulent years are often in need of additional funding. Tuesday’s request would allow the Department of Homeland Security to spend down funds faster to respond to disasters, and it also sets aside more than $290 million for salaries for Treasury Department staff implementing Trump’s tariffs.
It also asks for $11.2 million for the Environmental Protection Agency to fix and replace elevators in its Washington headquarters.
“There is a risk of entrapment for staff given the state of disrepair in which the building’s elevators currently operate,” the request says.
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, both said they would prefer a shorter funding extension to maintain some pressure for lawmakers to come to an agreement on full-year funding bills.
“My experience is that deadlines are like alarm clocks around here,” Cole said, adding that “the signal we got was they’re very open to flexibility” on how long the funding extension would go for.
Cole said Tuesday that he hadn’t yet read the president’s request, but said his staff indicated there was “nothing unusual in here.”
“We’re not going to put anything in a (continuing resolution) that tries to jam the Democrats. Anything that goes in, both sides have to agree on,” he said.