No One is Going to Save You
We must do the heavy lifting ourselves.
Recently, I received Senator Susan Collins’ weekly newsletter to her constituents. Front and center, she wanted to make clear she opposed the new caps on NIH research funding imposed by Trump’s efficiency team.
To express her concerns, she reached out to RFK Jr. to discuss the matter.
Here’s how she described his response in her “Tuesday Report” email:
This morning, I called Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, to express my strong opposition to these arbitrary cuts in funding for vital research at our Maine institutions, which are known for their excellence. He has promised that as soon as he is confirmed, he will re-examine this initiative that was implemented prior to his confirmation.
Let’s put aside any reservations over RFK Jr.’s nomination. And let’s also ignore Susan Collins spotty record — where she frequently feigns concern about something she has every intention of voting to support.
Instead, let’s focus on the context.
The NIH funding debacle is part of the DOGE assault on democracy or the attempt to eliminate federal waste, however your algorithms are steering you to view it.
These research grants and funds have already been approved by congress. They support biomedical research in private and public labs and universities across the country. The funds have always been broadly applied and have been used by recipients to cover all related expenses, including overhead like building space and electricity.
DOGE and President Trump have re-written the rules (codified in agreed upon legislation) so the funds cannot be applied to those basic expenses.
All of these facilities have already set their budgets for the year. Pulling funding for those basic expenses without warning threatens to shutter countless experiments and medical advances, including a number of high profile labs in Senator Collins’ state of Maine.
In response, Senator Collins contacted RFK Jr., the nominee-to-be.
Not Trump or DOGE who cut off this funding. She reached out to a man she’d previously expressed skepticism about voting for.
He said he’d look into it once he was confirmed.
Collins has since agreed to vote “yes” on that confirmation.
Two possible things are happening here:
A crisis has been manufactured to hold states hostage. Funding already approved by congress has been denied by the executive branch. A clear violation of separation of powers.
And state representatives are not fighting for restoration of their legislative powers. Instead, they are selling the idea the seizure of these funds was perfectly legitimate. And that somehow this future nominee is doing us a favor by lifting this illegal seizure.
On a darker note, if you assume your representatives are not in collusion, this means they are being extorted to vote for these candidates contingent on funding that already lawfully belongs to their constituents.
Either way you look at it, the separation of powers has been breached.
But maybe you still don’t believe these funds have been illegally withheld. To date, the other branch of our checks and balances, the Judiciary, does.
A federal judge has granted a restraining order to stop the funding cuts. In uncharacteristically speedy fashion, the ruling came just one day after 22 states filed suit.
But will Trump and Elon abide by this order?
So far they have not. And it is doubtful they will in the future.
Already Musk is calling for the impeachment of judges. Trump has threatened to “look into them.” JD Vance has openly encouraged his boss(es) to ignore this lawful order.
Never mind that “activist” judges assaulted at least half a dozen of Biden’s proposals (overtime pay expansion, undocumented spouses, changes to Title IX for transgender students, student loan repayment, etc.) All of them were denied. And all the rulings Biden upheld.
Whatever you may think of President Biden, he was honoring the basic principles of our Constitution.
These co-equal branches were intended to prevent just this scenario of one branch ruling over the rest. And in the case of concentrating all power in the executive, a slide into government under a single individual.
We all know how that goes, historically speaking, for this country.
We’ll now have to wait for the Supreme Court to take up the case. They may rule in Trump’s favor but they haven’t always.
Even if the majority Trump seated defies him, they have no mechanism to enforce it. The U.S. Marshalls would normally be the ones to uphold such an order. They’re under the Executive branch.
Or, it could be, the extortion was the intent. Once all their picks are confirmed, they might just back off entirely. Brinksmanship using Constitutional crises to get their way.
What could go wrong?
Since your representatives refuse to fight for their legislative authority, and any court rulings will likely go unheeded, then it’s all up to you. Just like it was when we last suffered under tyrannical rule.
Billionaires may believe themselves “too big to fail” but we, the people, are too many to ignore.
History is on your side.
