trump budget

Republicans are growing increasingly angry with President Donald Trump's administration officials who continue to refuse to deliver on funds that Congress appropriated.

Democrats have long complained about it, but now Republicans are getting involved, too. The U.S. Constitution states that the legislative branch (the House and Senate) allocates funding. They pass a budget for the government, programs, the military, Medicare and all of the other things that keeps the country operational. The Trump administration has taken that money, and if officials don't like it, they don't send it out.

Lawmakers are now asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to sue the administration for refusing to release approved spending and canceling funding, Politico reported Friday.

The GAO has repeatedly claimed that the administration violated federal law. In fact, this week it concluded that the Trump administration illegally withheld more than $1 billion for education and health care research programs. The problem is that the GAO doesn't have a permanent director. Only an interim director is in charge until the Senate can confirm someone. Thus far, that interim director has not exercised the GAO's authority to take the administration to court.

“They are empowered to sue,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has been among the Republicans angry about the administration's move. She chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I think the biggest problem is that we have an acting director of the GAO, who understandably is wary of suing the administration without direct congressional approval," Collins added.

With the Nov. 3 election in the next 25 days, and the House expected to change hands, they could sue the administration for violating the law. The Republican-led House sued President Barack Obama's administration in July 2014 over Obamacare spending. In Sept. 2020, the Democratic-led House sued the Trump administration over border wall funding that Congress never appropriated.

Trump also recently canceled $810 million in approved spending. The fiscal year ended Sept. 30, and if programs didn't use the money, it expired. There is a question about Trump using government funding to run TV ads promoting himself. He's also being questioned about the $352 million he took from the Secret Service budget to build his ballroom.

Politico cited a recent report from The Washington Sun, which said on Thursday that Trump officials were thinking of nominating Eric Ueland, who currently serves in the White House budget office. The Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought is the official, who, under Trump's authority, "has used every lever he can reach to stanch the flow of federal dollars," wrote one columnist.

A series of August reports cited a group of what they're calling "zombie programs" across the U.S. government. Those are programs like the CDC's Alzheimer’s disease program or programs around epilepsy and sickle cell disease data collection operations. There's even a rape prevention unit. Congress has approved and fully funded all of them. When Elon Musk went through his DOGE cuts, the people who worked on the programs were let go.

Vought has encouraged the president to impound money that Congress has allocated, even if it's against the law. In fact, Brown cited "a law specifically forbidding the practice."

Republicans allege that Trump is using “pocket rescissions” tactics.

"I’m very disappointed in their action here, and it will have to be rectified,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “I’m not sure who should do it. All I know is I want a different result than what we have right now.”

Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who left at the end of his 15-year term, said “the law is very clear that GAO’s ability to sue doesn’t preclude anybody else from suing.”

Former Republican strategist and Donald Trump critic Rick Wilson shared a must-watch debate in which a Democratic congressional candidate exposed a MAGA lawmaker's financial dealings during a heated Florida debate.

Wilson pointed to the exact moment Democrat Jennifer Jenkins eviscerated Republican Rep. Mike Haridopolos during a Florida Today-hosted debate.

"Go to minute 27. I've rarely seen someone shut down a MAGA candidate so completely," Wilson wrote on X.

The confrontation started when the host directed the debate to campaign funding and whether voters could trust elected officials to act independently of wealthy donors and corporate interests.

Jenkins accused Haridopolos of avoiding a question about political action committee contributions before contrasting their fundraising records.

"My campaign has been funded by over 23,000 individual donations with an average contribution of $19," Jenkins said.

She then laid out the congressman's financial history, including an ethics controversy during his tenure in the Florida Legislature.

"He's the only one in this race who has a formal ethics violation from his own party, for not accurately reporting his income and assets for four years," Jenkins said.

A Florida Senate panel admonished Haridopolos in 2011 over incomplete financial disclosures covering several years, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Jenkins also raised a controversy over Haridopolos receiving $152,000 in taxpayer money from a community college to write a book that initially had only one printed copy. She also called him out for receiving $36,000 in housing reimbursements while he purchased a Washington home worth more than $1 million.

“I'm not saying those two things are related, but they absolutely happened at the exact same time,” she said.

"Why should the voters trust you on these issues and trust you to not work on behalf of the people who have put money in your pocket?" Jenkins asked.

Haridopolos defended his congressional record, citing funding for NASA and infrastructure projects, before accusing Jenkins of financially benefiting from her political activities.

"She put over $100,000 of her money in her own pocket by creating a PAC because no one wanted to hire her after a disastrous performance on the school board," he alleged.

He also criticized Jenkins for paying herself a campaign salary, but Jenkins immediately challenged those accusations.

"The congressman is lying yet again," she responded, saying she legally collected compensation while running an organization and then ran for office.

"The congressman believes that people like you and I, working people shouldn't have the right to run for this higher office," Jenkins said.

"I make $140 a day. That's less money a day than the congressman made in an hour by working a total of 75 days this year in Congress."

The exchange prompted moderator John A. Torres to acknowledge the escalating confrontation.

"All righty," Torres said. "Things are getting a little hot in here."

President Donald Trump responds to his latest Nobel Peace Prize snub by amplifying an attack that accuses the Norwegian Nobel Committee of disgracing itself by selecting South African human rights lawyer Navi Pillay.

Shortly after Pillay was announced as the 2026 winner for her contributions to international law, Trump reposted a message from his former attorney David Schoen, who had represented him during his second impeachment trial.

"Today the Nobel Committee shamed itself beyond repair and demeaned the once great Nobel Peace Prize by giving it to the UN's Navi Pillay," Schoen wrote.

Schoen called Pillay "an unabashed hater of America and Israel" and accused her of celebrating terrorists and rewarding Hamas, without providing evidence for those allegations.

He also attacked a United Nations commission Pillay chaired, which concluded last year that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel has rejected that finding.

"She has no credibility in any normal sphere and has never done a thing to foster peace," Schoen wrote. "Just the opposite."

The attorney then claimed that Trump should have been awarded the prize, giving as reasons his Abraham Accords, his efforts to secure the release of the hostages, and his attempts to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

"President Trump gave us the Abraham Accords, which the world said would be impossible and is now expanding them!" Schoen wrote.

"He brought home the hostages when all seemed hopeless!" he added.

Schoen concluded that Trump's achievements were "the kinds of things the Nobel Peace Prize was intended to recognize and reward[!]"

The attack followed Trump's repeated pleading for his own nomination, arguing that his diplomatic record made him uniquely worthy.

Less than two days before the announcement, Trump said to reporters at the White House that no one in the history of the prize had deserved it more, adding his false claim that he had settled eight wars.

Pillay, who is 85 years old, had earlier held the position of United Nations high commissioner for human rights and that of a judge at both the International Criminal Court and the tribunal which investigated the Rwandan genocide.

The Nobel Committee lauded her many years of work in the promotion of international justice, especially her efforts to secure accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Pillay also seemed to make a joke about Trump's attempt to obtain the honor while celebrating her win with her colleagues in Germany.

"If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump," she joked.

The award will officially be presented in Oslo on December 10th.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin snapped at a reporter who asked a question he didn't like during a Friday press conference about another ICE agent-involved shooting in New York City.

Mullin delivered the statement after the incident as protestors and local lawmakers demand accountability. Mullin also struggled to get his facts straight, telling reporters at one point that the man shot by agents was "wanted for trafficking." In fact, one reporter explained, it was "traffic infractions." Mullin said he knew nothing about the man's case and pivoted to talk about Joe Biden instead.

At another point, Mullin said that they needed to take the man who broke a traffic law to a maximum-security facility, so they needed to remove him from the state. He wouldn't say where the man was. Mullin referred to the man as "the worst of the worst," and emphasized that he was "going after the worst of the worst" several times.

"They're going to try to make the gentleman they shot the worst human being you've ever heard of. But I want you to know that a father picking up his child was shot by a rogue agency controlled by Donald Trump," warned public advocate Jumaane Williams in a New York City press conference about the incident.

A reporter then asked him about the recent reports about the expensive luxury planes that were purchased under former Secretary Kristi Noem. The fleet of planes was painted as help for deportations, but photos of the planes showed two bedrooms, a stand-up bar, leather chairs, marble showers and other finery.

"This is what I hate about Fake News!" Mullin snapped.

The New York Times reported this week that the person who got the contract for the private planes was a big donor to Noem.

"You guys, you guys, when we're doing a press conference or something, you guys want to completely steer away when you realize that this isn't someone that you should be defending and you bring up something as ridiculous as that," Mullin ranted.

"I'm just — I'm just saying I'm not even going to entertain your question, because that's not what we're here for," Mullin claimed. "That's not — we're here for — if you want to add something that's detained to what we're having this press for, I'd be happy to do that. Okay? I'll take this last question because that wasn't even a question."

After the final question, he raged, "I'm so tired of it all of a sudden being controversial because it's a political talking point."

The Republicans' "One Big Beautiful Bill" ushered in such significant budget cuts that one rural West Virginia town is experiencing a hunger crisis.

Dunlow, West Virginia, has been hit particularly hard by cuts to two programs: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and federal food-purchasing cuts.

The GOP's budget bill mandated new eligibility and work-reporting requirements that have been particularly difficult in rural coal country, where jobs and training programs are scarce. While Trump claimed he'd bring back coal jobs during the 2024 campaign, he hasn't delivered. So, those who counted on those jobs are still struggling. Then Congress cut whatever safety net was left.

NBC reported Friday that approximately 24,000 West Virginians, including 8,000 children, have lost food-stamp benefits since last summer. Those are statewide figures, not counts specific to Dunlow or Matewan, but GOP Rep. Carol Miller, who covers that district, voted in support of the cuts. The state's senators, Jim Justice (R) and Shelley Moore Capito (R), also supported the legislation.

In fact, Wayne County, where Dunlow is located, voted 76 percent for President Donald Trump in 2024.

The second problem comes from the food-purchasing cuts. The GOP eliminated a $400 million program that purchased food from local farmers and put it in food banks to ensure that the needy could have access to healthy food. It also helped American farmers. The hit was twofold, hurting the food banks and farmers, who are also now suffering under tariffs and high diesel prices.

Facing Hunger told NBC News that its federal food supply has fallen by one-third. In Dunlow, that means the food pantry only has 2.5 pounds of USDA food per household in the entire month of August, said Bill Likens, who runs the pantry. A few years ago, that number was closer to 20 pounds a month.

The report noted that it isn't entirely the fault of the federal officials, however. Separate reporting by Mountain State Spotlight reported that West Virginia’s state allocation for food banks fell from $10 million annually under a previous funding to just $1.4 million in the current budget.

At a time when folks have less money for groceries because fuel costs and grocery prices have spiked, families are also losing programs designed to support them.

Speaking with residents, NBC News highlighted Washington D.C.'s distance from these kinds of communities and the struggles that they face. Dr. Mehmet Oz fumed at Molly Martinez of Gray Media's Washington News Bureau in an interview this week when she cited sweeping Medicaid spending cuts totaling $911 billion over the next 10 years. That includes $137 billion for rural America.

Now that hospitals and clinics are starting to close, the government is rushing to throw in $50 billion, but it hardly makes up for the $87 billion shortfall. The only response from the celebrity doctor was to allege the reporter was "deliberately duplicitous."

Retired school bus driver Bonnie Newsome told NBC News she remains affectionate toward Trump but admitted he has disappointed her. Without the food pantry, she said, couldn't survive.

Joanne Girvin, 73, told NBC that she has lost 20 pounds so far because she cannot afford enough food. She has started relying on eggs from backyard chickens and deer meat.

In an economically depleted region with limited jobs, significant disability and persistent child poverty, neighbors are sharing milk and redistributing pantry supplies.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly claimed, “President Trump is strengthening SNAP for the Americans who need it by ensuring these programs are sustainable for future generations." Thanks to him, she said, they can "crack down on waste, fraud and abuse.”

A long-time ally of President Donald Trump didn’t mince words with a profanity-laced description of Stephen Miller's wife, Katie Miller, admitting he can’t stand her despite her MAGA-aligned politics.

An unnamed Trump insider gave the admission to Vanity Fair in a report that looked at how Katie Miller has become one of Washington's most prominent Republican socialites.

"I'll say I love her publicly, but the truth is I can't f—— stand her," the longtime Trump ally told the magazine.

The Trump ally nevertheless continues to accept invitations to Miller's podcast and her dinner parties due to her husband’s influence in the White House.

“But if she asks you to go on the podcast, or come over for dinner, you say yes, because Stephen Miller is the second-most powerful person in the world," the source added.

Katie Miller has turned the couple's house on a military installation close to Washington into a meeting place for senior officials of the Trump administration, members of the Cabinet and other prominent Republicans.

The events reportedly included plenty of entertainment, such as hibachi chefs, mechanical bulls, pizza food trucks and specially made desserts. The report states that one of her children’s birthday parties “featured a petting zoo with donkeys and other assorted animals.”

The Millers reportedly hosted several events, including celebrating Todd Blanche confirmation as attorney general and a birthday party for former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, which drew in almost 100 guests.

The Millers' gatherings have also been attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and FBI Director Kash Patel.

Leavitt gave a much more favorable evaluation of Katie Miller, praising both her hosting skills, adding that she “goes over the top.”

Insiders told the magazine that Katie started hosting parties at her house because well-known Trump administration officials often come across hostile crowds in public places around Washington.

The Millers previously lived in northern Virginia, where neighbors protested against his immigration policies and distributed leaflets identifying the family's residence. In late 2025, the couple moved into military housing because they were concerned for their children's safety.

Their decision came about as a result of demonstrations held in the neighborhood which attracted national attention, including a legal dispute concerning a Virginia activist who had distributed information about their home.

The Washington Post reported at the time that the local prosecutor then decided not to bring charges against the activist on the grounds that the evidence was insufficient and that the First Amendment provided relevant protection.

Katie Miller has built her public profile through her podcast, where she interviews Trump administration officials and business leaders.

Conservative Nick Catoggio tells the Dispatch that “it’s a rare case in which a public official was smart enough to have consciousness of guilt about her crime but not smart enough to avoid putting the evidence against her in encrypted digital writing.”

That’s the situation facing President Donald Trump’s most recent embattled ambassador, Kimberly Guilfoyle. Her alleged $100,000 shakedown of Trump campaign donor Eric Deters is making waves after Deter shared texts of Guilfoyle’s coercion to pay off her AmEx bill with the Wall Street Journal.

But Catoggio can’t seem to get past the existence of Guilfoyle’s apparent self-awareness coupled with her sloppy follow-through.

“Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all these things,” she texted Deters at one point. At another, she wrote, “What a nightmare you’ll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing.” And yet, Catoggio said she made no solid effort to hide her behavior.

“She seems to have assumed that Deters would never reveal the texts she had sent him, even if she stiffed him on the favor he sought. Imagine her shock at seeing a Trump courtier behave dishonorably,” said Catoggio.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that during a recent visit to Bulgaria this year, Guilfoyle allegedly told people that if they wanted natural gas from America, they should do business with the company owned by a lobbyist who had taken to hanging around her meetings with foreign officials.

“How many AmEx bills did he pay to earn that kind of referral? And how many others whom we don’t (yet) know about have also covered some of her debts?” asked Catoggio, citing The Bulwark’s Sam Stein alleging that “we’re hearing that there are more Guilfoyle stories coming.”

This particular scandal might have more legs than the average Trump scandal, with Americans starting to pay attention to political news as the November 3 election approaches. And Guilfoyle is no faceless bureaucrat, said Catoggio. Her Fox News gig made her famous, after all. And her allegations about her dealings with Deters are “unusually straightforward for a bribery story.”

“’Pay my credit card bill if you want a favor’ is a solicitation a sixth-grader could grasp,” said Catoggio.

But despite the perceived certainty of Guilfoyle’s criminality, Catoggio said this is one corrupt Trump lackey who probably isn’t getting fired anytime soon, despite the grenade she landed directly “in the White House’s lap.”

“The president has no good options on how to deal with Guilfoyle,” said Catoggio. “Leaving her in the job after the Journal exposé would amount to endorsing what she’s done, essentially taking ownership of the scandal, but she’s assuredly learned too much about Trump family malfeasance over the years for him to risk alienating her by firing her.”

“My guess is that he’ll do what he usually does and lateral her over to some private-sector position, buying her silence with a well-paid sinecure,” he said.

President Donald Trump is bracing for a potential investigation into his son Barron and is tapping his $400 million campaign fund to protect him ahead of the November midterm elections.

A report from the Daily Mail says that the president is drawing up contingency plans because of concerns that Democrats might look into members of his family if they take control of Congress again.

Per the report, Trump is setting aside some of the funds raised by his MAGA Inc. super PAC to pay for possible legal defense costs for members of his family, such as Barron, first lady Melania Trump, and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Democratic members of Congress have already mentioned that Barron might find himself drawn into an investigation.

"Leave no stone unturned," one Democratic source told the Daily Mail, adding that there should be no exceptions for members of the Trump family.

Previously, Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari had asked 20-year-old Barron to give testimony before Congress regarding his relationship with the alleged sex trafficker Andrew Tate, who is currently behind bars awaiting deportation to the UK.

"Barron Trump is an adult. He is somebody who is deeply involved in Trump's orbit and the whole manosphere, and he has a lot of influence," Ansari said in July.

"So he needs to be held accountable if he has committed any wrongdoing," she added.

Barron is yet to face any charges regarding the matter.

The president's youngest son is also involved in the family's cryptocurrency business, World Liberty Financial, since it has been under scrutiny by critics for possible conflicts of interest related to the Trump presidency.

There could also be investigations into Kushner's private equity firm, Affinity Partners, since it had received a $2 billion investment from a fund backed by Saudi Arabia after he had left his post in the White House in 2021.

Melania may also face further scrutiny over Amazon's reported $75 million investment in her documentary, since that agreement has led some Democratic lawmakers to wonder whether it involved improper political influence.

Trump is reportedly "angry" but "not surprised" by the prospect of investigations targeting his relatives.

The White House dismissed the allegations as being politically motivated.

"Democrats have nothing to run on, so they attack the president, members of his Cabinet, and members of his family instead of offering real solutions to help voters," an administration official told the Daily Mail.

Recent YouGov polling found that a majority of registered voters describe President Trump as "corrupt," with 53 percent, and "dangerous” at 51 percent being the second-biggest descriptor applied to the president.

The fact that preparations are being made comes as Republicans are under pressure to use more of the political fundraising reserves belonging to Trump in order to protect their vulnerable candidates before the elections on November 3.

Another recording of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was leaked to the press for a Friday report, prompting questions about who leaked it and why.

CNN published audio of the new leak and said it received it from “an attendee who opposes Paxton.”

The recordings are all from a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24 with a small group of lobbyists and insiders. The reports have described the event as having fewer than 20 people and the source has never been revealed.

The recording, Friday, shows Paxton complaining that outgoing U.S. Sen. Ken Paxton (R-Texas) wants him "to lose."

The Texas Monthly noted this week that "snitches" have become the latest in a long line of problems for Paxton's campaign.

"Believe it or not, a lot of campaigns conclude without this happening once. The gist of all three is that Paxton is not currently having fun, not a good time at all, on the trail. This is not as surprising or revelatory as the Pentagon Papers, though it’s useful to have it confirmed. But the fact that the leaks happened, and the nature of them, is pretty interesting and invites speculation," wrote reporter Christopher Hooks.

He asks whether the "wired up" person is a fan of James Talarico or Cornyn, but also suggests a third option.

"Republicans have allocated more than a hundred million dollars to save Ken Paxton — something Senate Republicans warned would happen if Cornyn lost the primary," wrote Hooks. "There are surely a lot of GOP loyalists who are p—— about this and would rather send that money to places like Michigan, Maine or Ohio, where it would do a lot more good."

Shortly after the GOP primary, Cornyn told the Texas Tribune that Paxton wasn't the right choice for a president who prioritizes loyalty over capability. He alleged that Paxton is "lazy" and can't fundraise or campaign. Everything that Cornyn warned would happen is unfolding exactly as he predicted.

Meanwhile, Paxton is responding by "preparing to blame others for what might be one of the most embarrassing defeats in modern political history," said former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.).

Trump has backed Paxton, endorsing him in the primary and repeatedly campaigning for him in Texas. A loss would be a significant political embarrassment for the president, especially as Republicans fight to retain the Senate.

Trump has sought to reshape the Republican Party around loyalty to him, backing primary challengers against lawmakers who buck his policy demands. But success in a Republican primary does not guarantee victory in November. This year, Republicans face slowing job growth, higher food and gasoline prices, and average wage growth that has fallen below the latest available inflation reading. Trump’s war with Iran has also weighed on his approval ratings and his party’s election prospects.

As the GOP begins to triage in the final 26 days of the election, the Paxton recordings have exposed Republican tensions around his candidacy, but also that of other Trump-supported candidates. Still, the identity and motives of those distributing the Paxton audio clips remain publicly unresolved.