Democrats Expose How Legislative Branch Funding Bill Aids and Abets Trump Administration’s Law Breaking

WASHINGTON — During today’s House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the 2026 Legislative Branch funding bill, House Democrats demonstrated how the bill promotes waste, fraud, and abuse and is filled with unnecessary partisan policies that were removed in the final bills the last two years.

House Republicans’ Legislative Branch bill:

• Aids and abets President Trump in continuing to steal money promised to the American taxpayer by gutting and politicizing the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office.
• Threatens the preservation of our nation’s history and culture by slashing resources for the Library of Congress.
• Does not increase the Member’s Representational Allowance (MRA) to support additional security protections for Members of Congress.
• Shows House Republicans are continuing to ignore the sacrifices of the United States Capitol Police by failing to call for the immediate installation of the completed January 6 plaque honoring law enforcement.   
• Bars Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients from employment in the Legislative Branch.
• Makes it harder to recruit and retain qualified staff at the House of Representatives by failing to extend existing federal protections for new moms to Legislative Branch employees, creating a license to discriminate against LGBTQI+ people, and blocking programs and activities that create a safer and more inclusive workplace.

From Legislative Branch Subcommittee Ranking Member Adriano Espaillat’s (D-NY-13) opening remarks:

“The bill continues to contain unnecessary and divisive riders. As written, these provisions continue the Republicans’ obsession with dismantling rights of every minority group. In addition, this bill reduces the funding for the Government Accountability Office by 48 percent. The party who has prioritized waste, fraud, and abuse has cut the GAO, the government’s premier auditor and watchdog by almost 50 percent. According to the Republicans, these cuts are necessary to ‘curtail the agency’s self-directed, liberal initiatives.’ I disagree. GAO is responsible for researching and making recommendations on how to improve agency fairness and efficiency. It has been responsible for identifying waste and abuse within agencies... This reduction is a knee-jerk reaction to the GAO’s nearly 40 open investigations into whether the White House is illegally withholding money Congress had previously appropriated.”

From Appropriations Committee Ranking Rosa DeLauro’s (D-CT-03) opening remarks:

“It is astonishing that, for all the talk about finding and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, House Republicans would defund the watchdog that is tasked with precisely that role. The only plausible explanation is that the majority – and the Administration to which it is exceedingly loyal – is upset that GAO has repeatedly found that the White House is stealing funds away from taxpayers. We as appropriators, and as members of Congress, cannot tolerate this theft. They would defund the institution that alerts us to government malfeasance.”

A summary of House Republicans’ 2026 Legislative Branch funding bill is here. A fact sheet of the bill is here. The full text of the bill is here. 

In keeping with longstanding practice whereby each chamber of Congress determines its own housekeeping requirements and the other concurs without intervention, the bill does not include funds for the Senate or Senate office buildings. 

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