U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, appears at a town hall at Parrish Middle School in Salem on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (Photo by Alan Cohen/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon says he’s prepared to push back against President Donald Trump’s efforts to expand presidential authority over federal spending approved by Congress.
But Merkley also says he will need to enlist the support of the public and some Republicans to fend off Trump’s challenge.
“As the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, I am deeply engaged,” Merkley told a crowd at a Sunday town hall in Salem. “Part of the effort I am making is to put a spotlight on it. I hope to rally people to say this is unacceptable and there is bipartisan opposition to this plan.”
Merkley was joined by Oregon’s U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas at the town hall, which drew more than 500 people to the gym at Parrish Middle School. With fewer chairs than needed, some sat on the floor and others stood against the walls to hear the two Democrats speak. The meeting came just two weeks after Trump’s inauguration and an administration attempt to freeze some federal spending.
Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, worked for the president in his first term and has made it clear he believes the president can block congressionally approved funds. He has testified to the budget committee but has not yet been confirmed.
Merkley said he sees Vought as “dangerously unfit” for that job.
“Nobody who wants to willfully violate the law and the Constitution should be serving in a Cabinet post,” Merkley said.
Oregon joined some other states in a lawsuit against a funding freeze, which has been put on hold amid pending litigation.
Merkley said he expects Trump to proceed with another challenge that would test a 1974 law restricting the president’s authority to withhold money from programs approved by Congress.
The law was prompted by former President Richard Nixon’s impoundment of federal funds for some programs at the start of his second term in 1973. Congress passed the law, which took effect one month before Nixon resigned in 1974 as a result of the Watergate scandal.
Other programs at stake
During the town hall, Salinas said a couple of programs that had close calls before the spending freeze was stopped.
She said the freeze could have imperiled emergency food programs such as Marion-Polk Food Share, part of the statewide network supplied by the Oregon Food Bank. Many recipients of emergency food do not qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.
“This (emergency food) would have been on the chopping block,” Salinas said. “You would not have been able to access funds to get food out to communities. We know that so many people get to the end of each month and have to choose between paying the rent and putting food on the table.”
Salinas said a funding freeze also could affect Lines for Life, the Oregon nonprofit that receives federal funding for operating the 988 hotline connecting people with crisis services. The nationwide hotline began operation in mid-2022.
“It is a lifeline for people with suicidal ideation, for people with trauma, who are thinking about taking their lives,” she said. “People’s lives could be lost because of Trump — and that is not making my community safer.”
If Trump were to prevail, Merkley said any president could overturn spending decisions by Congress.
“I certainly hope the Supreme Court does not make that finding because it would be in fundamental contravention of the Constitution, which gives the power of the purse to Congress,” Merkley said. “Plus, you could never reach a deal in the Appropriations Committee — where we have bills with full bipartisan support — if you know the president will hold up funds for programs he does not like.”
But Merkley said he is concerned about the direction of the Supreme Court, which in a 2024 decision gave presidents wide latitude to execute their authority. Trump appointed three of the nine justices in his first term, and previous Republican presidents named three more.
Need for Republican allies
In addition to his position on the Budget Committee, Merkley is the fifth-ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, which does the detailed work on federal spending. That committee was once led by Republican Mark Hatfield of Oregon, who Merkley worked for as a student intern in 1976. Merkley now holds Hatfield’s Senate seat, having defeated Republican Gordon Smith in 2008.
“Hatfield would stand for the power of Congress to make these decisions,” Merkley said.
Merkley said some Republican allies are essential to political resistance because Democrats are the minority party in both the Senate and the House. Unlike his first term as president, Trump has virtually all Republicans supporting him — or remaining silent for now.
Merkley said few Republicans show independence from Trump because of his recent election victory and a threat from Elon Musk, Trump’s billionaire ally, to bankroll candidates against them in party primaries.
“As we progress, I hope that members will act on their beliefs and values, rather than blind loyalty,” Merkley said.
Merkley is also concerned about the administration pausing funding for environmental projects, and he said he’s concerned about other recent actions, such as Trump’s dismissal of independent inspectors at federal agencies, eight-month pay offers to federal employees in exchange for their resignations, and Musk’s access to a Treasury Department system that processes $6 trillion in federal payments to individuals, organizations and states.
“We are on the march to an sweeping authoritarian takeover that is completely out of sync with the vision of government by the people — and we have to stop it,” Merkley said.
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