"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Mr. Trump was in fighting form, tossing out red meat reminders to Texans about why they voted for him in 2024. He was interrupted nearly a dozen times by protesters, several of whom were led out in handcuffs. He talked a lot about the border, and Democrats, and himself.
What he didn’t talk a lot about was Ken Paxton.
Mr. Trump called the scandal-plagued Texas attorney general one of the best in the country and brought him up onstage briefly, but that was about it. When Mr. Trump first came onstage, it wasn’t even Mr. Paxton who introduced him. It was the baseball player Roger Clemens.
In San Antonio, Mr. Trump wasn’t trying to get people excited about Ken Paxton so much as he was trying to get them excited about Donald Trump. The question animating this race, and so many of the others this season: Is that still enough for Republicans to win these days?
If Democrats make big gains in the midterm elections in four weeks, it may not only be because their most loyal voters come out in force, or because their candidates have converted Republican voters to their cause.
Instead, the Democrats’ dream blue wave could come from Republicans who sour on President Trump and stay home. It already has a name: the red undertow.
Across the country, signs are emerging of an enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans, even among those who consider themselves likely to vote. A stretch of rural southwest Michigan — long a Republican stronghold — illustrates the point, with more signs for blueberries and eggs than for political candidates. Volunteers are not showing up to door-knock. And many voters say they are tuning this election out.
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on a Government Accountability Office (GAO) decision issued today, which concludes that President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. illegally impounded fiscal year 2025 funding for health research conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in violation of the Impoundment Control Act (ICA):
“This decision confirms what we’ve long known: President Trump lit health research funding on fire last year, and it’s clear as day he’s just done the same again this year. In fact, President Trump announced to the world just a few days ago that he was illegally cutting nearly $30 million more, and HHS has failed to detail to the Committee exactly how it has spent down AHRQ funding for fiscal year 2026.
“This is research that has saved tens of thousands of lives and saved billions of dollars in health care costs—but President Trump and Secretary Kennedy are intent on breaking the law to cut it off, and Republicans in Congress have all but let them do it. It’s past time Congress imposes real consequences on this administration for killing lifesaving health research—I’ll keep fighting to do just that.”
In its decision today, GAO concluded:
“Congress appropriated lump-sum amounts to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to carry out various research initiatives for fiscal year 2025. .… We conclude that HHS withheld funds when it declined to obligate or expend more than $78 million of its FY 2025 appropriation before the close of the fiscal year. We further conclude that this withholding constituted an impoundment under the ICA rather than a programmatic delay. Because HHS did not submit a special message proposing to rescind AHRQ funds, HHS’s actions violated the ICA.”
GAO’s decision examines how the Trump administration illegally impounded fiscal year 2025 funding provided to AHRQ for health research after the Trump administration sabotaged the agency, pushing out 80% of all staff and cancelling grants en masse. It’s clear, however, that this administration has once again illegally withheld and misspent AHRQ funding provided by Congress for fiscal year 2026, as well. Senator Murray and Senator Tammy Baldwin, Ranking Member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee, raised alarm bells about the fate of fiscal year 2026 AHRQ funds several weeks ago. Then, just days after HHS Deputy Secretary Nominee Chris Klomp vowed to senators that virtually all of the agency’s funding would be spent—while failing to provide details to back up that assertion—President Trump moved to permanently impound nearly $30 million in AHRQ funding in his “pocket rescission.” Republicans have repeatedly blocked Democrats’ efforts to prevent presidents from attempting to use “pocket rescissions.”
###