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But first, a few notes from around the Capitol…

And now for the main event…

When the cameras are rolling, congressional Republicans are ostensibly on board with the
budget-slashing and government-shrinking blitzkrieg being directed by Donald Trump and his partner Elon Musk. In private, though, G.O.P. lawmakers are starting to freak out over the likely impact of severe cuts on their own states, constituents, and of course, political careers—an outbreak of acute DOGE NIMBYism that is spurring a frantic behind-the-scenes campaign to ensure their districts are spared. 

Republicans are making the
calculation that it will be of little benefit to them or their constituents to publicly challenge a thin-skinned and loyalty-obsessed president at the height of his powers. Instead, cabinet secretaries and administration liaisons, including Vice President J.D. Vance, are hearing directly from Republican lawmakers and their staffs about the impacts of the cuts. One notable availer of these informal back channels has been Alabama Senator Katie Britt, the
young ascendant Republican who, like most of her co-partisan colleagues, has morphed into a MAGA-hugging lawmaker as a matter of political survival in her deep red state. 

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

The heartbeat of American agriculture can be heard at every farmer’s market and dinner table, spanning 880 million
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Thousands of Bayer employees work alongside American farmers, providing access to innovations and support to implement them effectively. Bayer’s advanced breeding, crop protection, and digital technology tools are reshaping the future of farming, and we’re invested in every field, acre, and harvest. We share the
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Alabama, of course, also happens to be a major recipient of federal funding,
which makes Britt emblematic of her party’s broader DOGE-facing dilemma. Notably, she once served as chief of staff to her predecessor, Senator Richard Shelby, the former top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, and helped him send so much money back to Alabama that he has at least eight buildings and landmarks named after him—including an airstrip, the headquarters of the Missile and Space Intelligence Center, and several university research facilities. Federal largesse
has helped transform the state into a medical and science research mecca, and an essential hub of the U.S. space program. In 2021, federal funding accounted for about 27 percent of Alabama’s revenue—7 percent higher than the average across all states. The University of Alabama
received more than $400 million from the N.I.H. in 2023, and the University of Alabama–Birmingham is one of the country’s top university recipients of federal funding. It’s also one of the biggest employers in the state. 

But all of that has been thrown into doubt as Trump and Musk trample on congressional appropriations and notification requirements, likely in violation of numerous statutes. Lawmakers like Britt appear to be wagering that, if the law can’t rein them in, perhaps a quiet lobbying campaign can. In public, she is measured, navigating the same political gantlet as her colleagues. “I look forward to continuing to work with them as they look to
make things better and more efficient, and also making sure that we’re highlighting the good work that’s being done across Alabama,” Britt said Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, though, she’s been working aggressively behind the scenes to protect her state’s funding—with mixed success. She pleaded with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding federal cuts to indirect
research that will impact the Alabama university system. (Kennedy made her no promises, but said he’d keep taking her calls.) She called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the U.S. Air Force removed training videos featuring the Tuskegee Airmen—the highly decorated World War II–era Black fighter pilot squadron trained in Tuskegee, Alabama—pursuant to Trump’s anti-D.E.I. crusade. She urged Hegseth to reverse the decision, and he did. 

Another
quiet protester has been Maine Senator Susan Collins, who reached out to Kennedy about N.I.H. research funding cuts; to Vance about how tariffs on Canadian goods would harm Maine; to now-Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought when his office froze (and later unfroze) $3 trillion in federal grant programs; and to Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a letter this past weekend, regarding firings at the F.B.I. and the legal requirement
to notify Congress. West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito said that she talks to the administration often about cuts impacting her state, and that they end up being “pauses that get unstuck.” 

Public displays of concern from G.O.P. quarters are rarer, but they do happen, and often
in nuanced ways. Kansas Senator Jerry Moran has called on the administration to continue the Food for Peace program, which subsidizes U.S. farmers to produce hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of food each year for international food aid programs through USAID… but he also slammed the agency’s bureaucracy and
inefficiency. A bipartisan group of senators has discussed writing a public letter to the administration about USAID’s elimination, but I’m told that’s unlikely, partly because Republicans don’t want to be seen challenging the administration—especially alongside Democrats. (Administrations often ignore letters from Congress anyway, but they do serve as a public and official documentation of their grievances.) 

The
upshot is that, by Republicans’ own admission, back-channeling and ass-kissing appear to be the only ways to try to save coveted programs and funding back home—although even that might not work. And if this is what counts as recourse for those with good White House relationships, Democrats and their districts are likely out of luck. 

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman understands that, which is why he
enlisted Dave McCormick, the brand-new Republican senator and Trump ally, to work his ties with the administration in an effort to protect Pennsylvania’s university system. Fetterman predicts that bashing the administration on social media or in fundraising pleas will just backfire. “I’m not going to dump gas on that and have the fire,” Fetterman told me. 

At the same time, even as
the DOGE cuts start to affect communities, they represent just a tiny fraction of the total budget and are unlikely to make any real impact on the deficit. In an interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday night, Trump and Musk said that DOGE would be able to cut $1 trillion from the government—itself a climbdown from the $2 trillion that Musk proposed initially. But as DOGE’s own website points out, even firing the entire federal government would save only $211 billion (the average salary of a government employee is $93,828 per year), not exactly numbers that will bend the spending curve. Indeed, there’s no way to get into the trillions in cuts without doing the one thing Trump has vowed not to do: cut Medicaid, which accounts for about 9 percent of the federal budget and is a program that Republicans not named
Trump have long wanted to rein in. 

Whatever the case, DOGE has made no commitment to even keep Congress fully informed of their doings, which would, at minimum, be useful as legislators seek to craft a budget that reflects Trump’s priorities. (DOGE spokesperson Katie Miller did not respond to a question about this.) The House Republicans’ budget, which is expected to be brought to the floor as early as next week,
instructs the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion from their purview, which includes Medicaid. A representative of the centrist House Main Street Caucus held a meeting at the White House today to talk about decisions that could be harmful to its members, many of whom represent swing districts and are at risk of being punished by voters in the midterms. 

Not all Republicans are taking the subtle route, however. Kentucky Senator Rand
Paul, the cantankerous free-market libertarian who rarely talks to the press, held court this week and slammed the administration on tariff threats, noting that every major industry in his state—bourbon, farming, automobiles—is opposed to tariffs. “What the people advising the administration don’t understand is they think trade is a win-lose situation,” Paul said. But he hasn’t had any conversations with the administration about it, himself.  

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