Congress passed a law shutting down TikTok, and President Trump flouted it. Congress required advance notification for firing inspectors general, and the Trump administration ignored it. Congress approved trillions of dollars in spending on a multitude of federal programs, and Mr. Trump froze it.
The new administration is quickly demonstrating that it does not intend to be bound by the legal niceties or traditional checks and balances of its relationship with Congress. That has infuriated Democrats but drawn shrugs and approval from Republicans who say Mr. Trump is delivering what he promised even if it comes at the expense of Congress’s authority and constitutional status as a coequal branch of government.
“President Trump clearly ran for office to be a disrupter, and he’s going to continue to do that,” said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Republican.
Mr. Trump is also clearly embarking on a test of what he can cow a Congress under total Republican control into swallowing. Early indications are that it will be a lot.
In addition to his attempt to snatch the power of the purse away from Congress, he has sent up a crop of high-level cabinet nominees who would have never passed muster on Capitol Hill in the past, daring Republicans to either back them or risk the wrath of the movement backing Mr. Trump. All but a few have snapped into line.
He has offered a governmentwide payout to entice millions of federal workers to resign, with scant recognition that Congress might have a say in such a drastic reshaping of the government it funds.
“He’s testing his own authority,” Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota, said of the president’s anti-Congress flex. “He’s getting some guidance that presidents have more authority than they have traditionally used.”
Indeed, the administration’s position is that when it comes to the executive branch, the White House has absolute power to do what it pleases even if it is Congress that provides the money for the entire government with specific directions on how it should be spent.
“The White House Counsel’s Office believes that this is within the president’s power to do it, and therefore he’s doing it,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Tuesday about the president’s directive to pause federal funding approved by Congress, which was later temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
The lack of pushback from congressional Republicans is a stark acknowledgment that Mr. Trump is large and in charge, controlling their political futures while executing an agenda that they believe Republican voters demanded. It is a distinct break from the past, when lawmakers of both parties would vigorously defend Congress’s power — particularly the spending power granted in Article I of the Constitution — no matter who was in the White House.
Other top Republicans sought to play down the impact of the spending pause. They noted that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. moved quickly after his inauguration in 2021 to hold up money for completing the first Trump administration’s border wall. That action was far less sweeping than the new Trump order and was later validated as within the power of the administration by the Government Accountability Office.
“I think any of these funding decisions are not unusual for a new administration,” said Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican and majority leader. “They’re pausing, taking a look at where money is being spent, how it’s being spent and ensuring that it’s spent wisely and well and in accordance with this administration’s plans.”
But Democrats were apoplectic, accusing the administration of a gross abuse of power.
“If this stands, then Congress may as well adjourn, because the implications of this is the executive can pick and choose which congressional enactments they will execute,” said Senator Angus King, the independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats.
As they seethed, Democrats also plotted how to respond, though their options are limited as the minority in both chambers. Senate Democrats said they intended to explore procedural guerrilla tactics that could draw out action on the floor in their protest of Mr. Trump’s dismissal of Congress and Republican acquiescence. House Democrats planned a private call on Wednesday to craft a legislative, legal and messaging response.
One leading Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, noted that a mechanism exists for Mr. Trump, in conjunction with Congress, to “reprogram” spending that the White House doesn’t like, though so far there is little sign the administration wants to take that potentially time-consuming and contentious approach.
“It’s not as if there isn’t a process if, during the year, it is found that money needs to be reallocated within a department,” said Ms. Collins, who chairs the Appropriations Committee. “But it requires congressional approval, as it should.”
The White House encountered mild bipartisan resistance to its decision to abruptly fire multiple inspectors general from various agencies. Senators Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and a longtime proponent of empowering inspectors general, and Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, joined forces and wrote Mr. Trump asking him to account for why he had made the firings without the required 30-day notification to Congress and accompanying justification.
“While I.G.’s aren’t immune from committing acts requiring their removal, and they can be removed by the president, the law must be followed,” the letter said.
But their plea was cast aside, both at the White House and among other Republicans.
The spending pause “should be seen for what it is: good governance,” said Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the No. 3 Republican.
“I, for one, am glad to have a president in the White House who is delivering on his promise to get our fiscal house in order,” he told reporters at the House G.O.P. retreat held at Mr. Trump’s Doral golf resort near Miami.
Other Republicans also characterized the alarm over the Trump administration actions as an overblown reaction to a new White House asserting itself at the start.
“This is a work in progress,” said Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho. “Everybody take a deep breath, stay calm.”
It seems highly doubtful that calm will settle in anytime soon. But it does appear certain that any challenge to the Trump administration’s efforts to erode Congress’s power will come not from Republicans on Capitol Hill but from the states and in the courts.
“I’d be surprised if Congress initiated a lawsuit or asked for a stay,” said Mr. Cramer, the North Dakota senator. “But there will plenty of others that will.”
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