The Republican Party as a whole continues to sing Donald Trump’s praises under the watchful public eye, but behind closed doors, they’re being forced to grovel, beg, and plead with the newly installed president for some relief as their states begin to feel the sting of Donald’s massive budget cuts and spending freezes, leaving lawmakers holding the bag with their constituents and begging Trump for spare change.
The news comes out of a bombshell report from the Washington Post that revealed Republican lawmakers who continue to lavish the president with public praises are blowing up the phones of Donald’s Cabinet officials just behind the curtain, begging for some financial relief from what Trump has done.
The terminations of federal employees have reached far outside the confines of Washington D.C. and the overreaching funding freezes have left countless government contracts broken with no answers for the future.
This has left lawmakers desperate, calling up Trump Admin Cabinet secretaries and other White House officials, begging for some of their money back.
In fact, according to the report, Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville admitted that begging for change and crumbs may be the new normal in Congress now.
“Lawmakers could lobby [Elon] Musk to save spending they’ve allocated for their states as he slashes and cancels contracts at agencies,” Tuberville suggested.
WaPo reports that GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski has been contacting the respective departments directly in an attempt to get her state’s money back, while the likes of Susan Collins and Katie Britt are trying to cut a deal with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to staunch the NIH cuts that are leaving their states suffering.
As Trump publicly harps about completely eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), GOP Sen. Shelly Moore Capito is desperate to hang on to the grant that same agency gave her state for green school buses.
Kansas Republican Senator Jerry Moran has been left scrambling ever since USAID was cut and millions of dollars in food aid from Kansas farmers was left sitting in ports.
Food for Peace is a program that purchases crops from American farmers and sends that food around the world to help end global starvation. Those crops are now rotting and American farmers don’t know if they’ll ever get paid.
The Post wastes no time in saying the quiet part loud — to get what you need, you have to beg now. Those who publicly admire Trump will undoubtedly have a significant advantage while anyone who dares to push back against him will be left empty-handed.
Matt Glassman, a former Capitol Hill staffer who worked for the Congressional Research Service, told the publication that this setup is “so dangerous” because it “creates a sort of favor-factory atmosphere where you’ve got to beg the president for your funding.”
Read the full report from the Washington Post here.
Featured image via State Department photo/ Public Domain