Democrats are racing against time to set bureaucratic “land mines” to blunt the impact of President-elect Donald Trump, scrambling to rush billions of dollars out the door, confirm judges and entrench climate and health policies before the incoming administration can dismantle all of it.
With less than two months until the president-elect takes over, Democrats are doing what they can to “Trump-proof” the government.
The White House is doling out billions in infrastructure and manufacturing spending, along with aid to Ukraine. Agencies are furiously issuing rules, and Democratic senators are trying to expedite confirming Biden-appointed judges, gearing up for upcoming legal fights with the Trump administration.
And federal workers are erecting procedural barricades, trying to unionize and lining up lawyers to stave off mass firings Mr. Trump promised.
Come Jan. 20, Mr. Trump will be in control and be able to undo much of what Mr. Biden has done through executive action. Even with Mr. Trump in charge, however, things in Washington don’t change on a dime. Experts say Democrats’ flurry of moves will create plenty of headaches for Mr. Trump when he strides into office.
“It matters or else they wouldn’t be doing it. It comes to down setting land mines and making it more difficult for the incoming administration to reverse those changes,” said Tad DeHaven, a policy analyst with the libertarian Cato Institute.
Spending
Congress approved four major bills under Mr. Biden’s watch that created roughly $4.8 trillion in new spending. The laws include the $1.9 trillion stimulus package; a $1.2 trillion infrastructure law to improve the nation’s roads and bridges; a $1.2 trillion health, climate and tax law; and a $52 billion bill to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.
The administration doled out grants for about 98% of the funding for the four bills through fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30. Officials have said they plan to use the final weeks of their lame-duck administration to dispense the remaining $46 billion that is available in fiscal 2025. That would keep the Biden-authorized money flowing through the first year of Mr. Trump’s administration.
Mr. Trump has vowed to claw back most of those laws or at least take a wrecking ball to as much as he can. He has blasted the climate law’s tax credits for people who buy electric vehicles and tax incentives subsidizing companies that build electric vehicle charging stations.
The president-elect also has criticized the semiconductor manufacturing law, known as the CHIPS & Science Act, as “so bad.” He said the law’s goal could be accomplished through tariffs, rather than billions in spending.
However, since the contracts and laws are in place, it would take an act of Congress to change them. The White House cannot rescind funds already approved by Congress. Only lawmakers themselves can withhold them.
Republicans have a slim majority in Congress, which is complicated by Mr. Trump picking two House Republicans — Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Mike Waltz of Florida — for jobs in his administration.
Few Republicans on Capitol Hill have expressed a desire to eliminate or change those laws, because much of the funds are flowing into their districts. About 51% of the spending directly tied to the CHIPs Act and Mr. Biden’s climate and tax law have gone to red states, according to data by Fitch Ratings. The same analysis found that 50% of the jobs created from these investments were in red states, compared to 17% for blue states.
Patricia Crouse, who teaches public administration at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, said it’s possible that Mr. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, will not have the votes to dismantle these laws even in a Republican-controlled Congress.
“I think that’s a huge problem for Trump coming in,” she said. “He’s not going to be able to do this in the first 100 days and by that time a lot of the money will be spent. It would be so much work for Trump to do that it might not even be worth it.”
Even if Congress is on board, rescinding the funds would require approval by the Senate, where Republicans will have a 53-47 majority.
Since Mr. Trump’s election win, Mr. Biden has gone into overdrive to assist Ukraine. Mr. Trump has been critical of the Biden administration for shelling out billions in military aid for Ukraine, with all of Europe collectively falling just short of what Mr. Biden has approved. The incoming president also has said he could end Ukraine’s war with Russia in one day, but has not offered specifics.
About $6.4 billion remains in Ukraine security assistance from April’s $61 billion aid package that Mr. Biden has vowed to send. However, it takes months for weapons and equipment to get to Ukraine after an aid package is approved, so anything approved in the next few weeks would not arrive until after Mr. Trump takes office. That would give Mr. Trump the authority to halt the shipments before they’re on the ground.
About $4.3 billion of the unspent Ukraine aid is allocated to pull from the existing U.S. weapons supply and $2.1 billion is in contracts with U.S. defense companies.
“In terms of Ukraine, the issue is that money has already been allocated,” Ms. Crouse said. “Biden doesn’t have to fight Congress to get that money, he just has to get it out the door. It’s easier to do those kinds of things.”
Still, Mr. Biden has found other ways to thumb his nose at Mr. Trump on Ukraine. The Biden administration told Congress it plans to cancel $4.65 billion in debt owed to the U.S. by Ukraine. That’s roughly half of an economic loan the U.S. provided last year.
Mr. Biden also escalated the war by giving Ukraine the go-ahead to use long-range U.S. missiles in Russian territory. The president had long resisted the idea, which draws America deeper into the conflict just as Mr. Trump takes over. That could make it more difficult for Mr. Trump’s efforts to bring peace in the region, with stakes rising significantly.
Rulemaking and judges
Various federal agencies are scrambling to finalize various rules and cement Mr. Biden’s climate legacy. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency announced $3 billion in funding to help local municipalities remove lead pipes. It also announced that oil and gas companies for the first time will pay a federal fine if their methane emissions exceed a certain level.
Meanwhile, the Education Department — an agency that Mr. Trump wants to abolish — has been hurrying to finalize a rule to cancel student loans for people who suffer financial hardship. The proposal is the only one of Mr. Biden’s student loan forgiveness plans that was not halted by the federal courts.
The flurry came to an end last week because rules passed within 60 days of Mr. Trump taking office on Jan. 20 will be subject to the Congressional Review Act. That means that Congress could enjoin those rules with approval from Mr. Trump.
However, rules that are finalized will be subject to legal challenges that could effectively end them. Democratic senators and Mr. Biden are hurrying to confirm federal judges who would likely rule in their favor.
The Senate left for Thanksgiving break last week with a deal in place to vote on as many as 14 of Mr. Biden’s district court nominations when they return, but not to vote on four appellate court nominations by Mr. Biden.
The deal left Mr. Trump furious and he took to social media to complain that no more judges should be confirmed before Inauguration Day.
Employees
Federal workers are worried that Mr. Trump will follow through with his plan to cut the workforce. Career government employees are lining up lawyers, and several have launched public campaigns to lobby against mass firings.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-chair Mr. Trump’s commission on cutting government spending with Elon Musk, has proposed firing 50% of the federal workforce.
Employees in two Justice Department divisions are rushing to unionize, which would make firing them more difficult.
Mr. Trump has other methods to trim the federal workforce besides outright firings. He could demand Congress refuse to spend money on government agencies that it already approved, a process known as impoundment. That would likely drive out workers who would be hamstrung trying to do their jobs.
Some Trump transition officials, as well as Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy, also say that forcing all federal employees to return to the office full time, ending pandemic-era work policies, would lead to numerous resignations.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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