Lead Art: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is among President Donald Trump’s agency heads who will face funding scrutiny on the Hill today. | Angelina Katsanis/POLITICO
Capitol agenda: Trump secretaries start hitting the Hill
Get ready for fireworks today over the president’s fiscal 2026 budget request.
By Mia McCarthy and Lisa Kashinsky 05/06/2025, 8:00am ET
Democratic appropriators infuriated by the Trump administration’s disregard for Congress’ power of the purse are getting their first chance to cross examine the secretaries who have aided the president’s slashing.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins are hitting the Hill Tuesday to testify on their portions of President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request. VA Secretary Doug Collins is also likely to face sharp budget questions when he appears before Senate Veterans’ Affairs Tuesday.
Democrats will push hard for answers on why Trump is unilaterally cutting congressionally approved funding — and why he’s proposing another $163 billion in nondefense cuts going forward.
“Appropriations laws are not suggestions,” Rep. Lauren Underwood, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security subcommittee, told POLITICO of the warning she’ll deliver to Noem. Here’s where things could get testy Tuesday:
The looming X-date: Expect lawmakers to press Bessent on when the Treasury Department believes Congress will have to act on the debt limit (unless Treasury drops that news before his 10 a.m. hearing). Bessent and House Republicans will need Democrats’ support to raise the debt limit if the X-date comes before the GOP can pass its party-line megabill.
