BREAKINGVIEWS-Spending deal recoups valued Oval Office harness

By Gabriel Rubin

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Elon Musk’s Washington rampage is now a fading memory. After the billionaire led a putative cost-cutting effort in 2025, ejecting 9% of the government workforce for a pittanceof savings, Congress is now putting the pieces back together. A budget passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday restores slashed funding to various energy, science and health research programs. More importantly, it marks the beginning of explicit pushback from Capitol Hill, reasserting its power of the purse, however weakened it might be in the Trump era.

Legislators have not covered themselves in glory of late, setting up a must-pass budget deadline after they simply put last year’s spending on autopilot. That deprived lawmakers of opportunities to fund new projects in their home states ahead of November elections that will decide control of Congress. The new $1.2 trillion deal, along with an earlier package, funds most of the government through September, save for contentious spending on the Department of Homeland Security, the locus of concerns over immigration enforcement. Startlingly, the process proceeded smoothly, with minimal rancor between Republicans and opposition Democrats.

Perhaps that’s because they mostly ignored President Donald Trump. His budget proposal assigned $155 billion for research and development spending; the legislation includes $188 billion. The National Science Foundation, whose grants were frozen and where 168 employees were targeted for cuts last year by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, will lose just 1% compared to the 56% reduction requested by the White House. The National Institutes of Health fared even better, with a $415 million increase from last year.

Congress also adopted legislative language that prohibits agency reorganizations until advanced notice is given, including any moves to cut programs or relocate offices. That Democrats’ demands were accepted by Trump’s Republican Party, which controls both chambers, suggests a fresh wariness about an all-powerful executive.

This is especially important after the administration sought to unilaterally cancel appropriated funds last year, essentially defying legislators. The damage done by Musk to immensely valuable functions of government compounds the issue. It's an encouraging sign nevertheless that despite the many norms shattered by Trump, some safeguards should snap back into place.

Follow Gabriel Rubin on Bluesky and LinkedIn.

CONTEXT NEWS

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an appropriations package on February 3 that funds federal science and research and development programs at levels higher than those requested by the Trump administration.