<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The Republican-led Congress isn’t just watching the Trump administration gobble up its constitutional powers. It is enthusiastically turning them over to the White House.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">G.O.P. lawmakers are doing so this week by embracing a stopgap spending bill that gives the administration wide discretion over how federal dollars are distributed, in effect handing off the legislative branch’s spending authority to President Trump. But that is just one example of how Congress, under unified Republican control, is proactively relinquishing some of its fundamental and critical authority on oversight, economic issues and more.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">As they cleared the way for passing the spending measure on Tuesday, House Republicans leaders also <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/us/politics/trump-tariffs-house-gop-vote.html" title="">quietly surrendered their chamber’s ability to undo Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China</a> in an effort to shield their members from having to take a politically tough vote. That switched off the only legislative recourse that Congress has to challenge the tariffs that are all but certain to have a major impact on their constituents.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"><a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/us/politics/trump-congress-republicans.html" title="">Republicans have also stood by, many of them cheering,</a> as the administration has upended federal departments and programs funded by Congress and fired thousands of workers with no notice to or consultation with the lawmakers charged with overseeing federal agencies. So far, no congressional committee has held an oversight hearing to scrutinize the moves or demand answers that would typically be expected when an administration undertakes such major changes.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“This is us, in a sense, giving the keys to the president to be able to continue to do the great work that they’re doing,” Representative Michael Cloud, Republican of Texas, said this week. Mr. Cloud, who rarely votes in favor of spending bills, was explaining his support for the stopgap funding measure the House passed this week and is pending in the Senate.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="ImageBlock-3"><div data-testid="imageblock-wrapper"><figure aria-label="media" class="img-sz-large css-hxpw2c e1g7ppur0" role="group"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-figure"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Image</span><picture><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 3),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 3dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 288dpi)" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/03/13/multimedia/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale&amp;width=1800"/><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 2dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/03/13/multimedia/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale&amp;width=1200"/><source media="(max-width: 599px) and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 1),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 1dppx),(max-width: 599px) and (min-resolution: 96dpi)" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/03/13/multimedia/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale&amp;width=600"/><img alt="Representative Michael Cloud, Republican of Texas, wearing a gray suit and speaking at a podium." class="css-r3fift" decoding="async" height="400" sizes="((min-width: 600px) and (max-width: 1004px)) 84vw, (min-width: 1005px) 80vw, 100vw" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/03/13/multimedia/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/03/13/multimedia/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp 600w,https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/03/13/multimedia/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp 1024w,https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/03/13/multimedia/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb/13DC-POWERS3-qzkb-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp 2048w" uri="nyt://image/b30d44ab-7abe-5276-aaee-194c449a5219" width="600"/></picture></div><figcaption class="css-1g9ic6e ewdxa0s0" data-testid="photoviewer-children-caption"><span class="css-jevhma e13ogyst0">“This is us, in a sense, giving the keys to the president,” said Representative Michael Cloud, Republican of Texas.</span><span class="css-14fe1uy e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span><span aria-hidden="false">Eric Lee/The New York Times</span></span></span></figcaption></figure></div></div><div data-testid="Optimistic-4"><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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