Eric McDaniel

But with money paid out for three years of operations, that lever will be gone.

Congress, of course, has other oversight tools like calling in Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen and other officials in to testify before Congress.

But make no mistake, congressional Republicans are choosing to let go of a big piece of their leverage over the executive branch here.

I'd say so.

Think about the power of the purse.

The Constitution says, Congress, you folks get to decide how we spend taxpayer dollars.

But to folks during the DHS shutdown, the president moved money around on his own to write paychecks.

Congress just kind of shrugged, even though that's really their job to do.

Congress also has the power to declare war and regulate the use of the military.

Trump's war on Iran has lasted more than 60 days at this point.

That's a key legal threshold.

And Congress hasn't passed a bill to either authorize or rebuke the conflict.

But in the case of long-term funding, you can also make the case that Republicans are helping to stabilize the government a bit.

Most of our peer countries just don't do big shutdowns like the U.S.

does.

So giving these teams at the heart of the president's agenda, the issue he was elected on, funding for the rest of his term, is also a big step toward consistency, if not accountability.

Well, this week, eyes are on the Senate.

Republican leadership wants to keep this bill really focused.

Just ICE, just CBP.

But there's already a billion dollars in security money for the White House ballroom in there that could make this hard to pass if it stays in.