Midweek Tabs

The Least Self-Aware Senator

“Susan Collins” by Gae Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

I have long referred to Susan Collins (R-ME) as “Senator Concerned.”

Well…

“I am concerned if the Trump administration is clawing back money that has been specifically appropriated for a particular purpose,” she said.

This is from a Politico report: Senate’s top appropriator says Elon Musk has gone too far .

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, is raising alarms about the influence that billionaire Elon Musk is wielding inside the Trump administration and across federal agencies.

“There’s no doubt that the president appears to have empowered Elon Musk far beyond what I think is appropriate,” she told reporters Wednesday. “I think a lot of it is going to end up in court.”

After the only known one-on-one meeting between Collins and Musk on Capitol Hill late last year, she had said she was “very impressed  with his energy and dedication.”

Since that time, Musk has helped orchestrate a de facto shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development and gained access to the Treasury Department system that controls trillions of dollars in federal payments.

Collins also repeated her unease Wednesday that the White House is undermining Congressional spending power.

So, I am happy to see any member of the Senate, especially of the majority party, to be paying attention to all of this. But I think we should be well beyond just being “concerned.” And it isn’t encouraging that she only mentioned the courts and not Congress (you know, where she works and theoretically one of three branches of government).

Unlike many Senate Republicans, Collins has been vocal about her discomfort with the White House usurping Congress’ constitutional power of the purse.

I think that “vocal” is perhaps overselling her response.

And her concern only goes so far.

Collins had previously criticized the Office of Management and Budget’s move to freeze the disbursement of federal loans and grants as “far too sweeping” and warned it would have “an adverse effect on the delivery of services and programs.”

She still plans to vote to confirm Russ Vought, Trump’s pick for White House budget chief, who is expected to play a key role in the administration’s larger efforts to wrest spending power away from congress. Vought is expected to be confirmed on Thursday.

BTW, I can’t think of a time wherein Senator Collin’s “concern” mattered one whit.

Trump Press Secretary Says White House Canceling Its Politico Subscriptions When Asked By MAGA TV Host

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared on Wednesday that the cancelling of government Politico subscriptions is part of a President Donald Trump’s effort to reduce government waste.

Politico was drawn into debate around United States Agency for International Development (USAID) after some on social media erroneously claimed that the federal government was directly funding Politico to the tune of $8 million. The number actually stems from subscriptions to Politico’s Pro editorial product, common in many government offices where employees are seeking the deep dive information on DC politics.

The payments were only noticed by the public as Trump and Elon Musk, through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory group, have made moves to shutter USAID.

Real America’s Voice host Brian Glenn — also the boyfriend of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — asked Leavitt during a Wednesday press briefing about these payments to Politico, and Leavitt immediately confirmed that “payments” to Politico were being cancelled. Leavitt described the subscriptions as “essentially subsidizing” Politico.

She said:

Coming out here to the briefing room, I was made aware of the funding from USAID to media outlets, including Politico who has a seat in the room. I can confirm the more than eight million taxpayer dollars have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the taxpayer’s time will no longer be happening. The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now. Again, this is a whole-of-government effort to ensure that we are going line by line when it comes to the federal government’s books, and this president and his team are making decisions across the board on, do these receipts serve the interest of the American people? Is this a good use of the American taxpayers’ money? If it is not that funding will no longer be sent abroad and taxpayers will see significant savings because of that effort.

Watch above via Fox News .

The post Trump Press Secretary Says White House Canceling Its Politico Subscriptions When Asked By MAGA TV Host first appeared on Mediaite .