GOP lawmakers returning to Washington this September are walking straight into a political minefield, with a host of controversies set in motion by President Trump and his senior Cabinet officials. After a relatively quiet August recess, the stakes are high—and the deadlines even higher—as Congress faces a possible government shutdown, a public health shake-up, and deepening partisan divides over federal funding, public health, and foreign policy.
At the heart of the turmoil is President Trump’s plan to rescind nearly $5 billion in congressionally appropriated funding through a so-called “pocket rescission” package, a move that has Democrats fuming and Republicans split. According to reporting by Nexstar Media, this maneuver threatens to push the government to the brink of a shutdown by September 30, 2025, unless a stopgap funding deal is reached. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) cited a Government Accountability Office finding that such a rescission is “unlawful,” arguing that only Congress—not the administration—should handle these matters. Some Republican lawmakers, like Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), have called for letting the Appropriations committees take the lead, but Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is pressing ahead, sidestepping congressional authority.
Former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) summed up the mood: “Keeping the government open is going to be a really heavy lift this time.” He pointed to the “extremely virulent atmosphere” in Washington, warning, “I’m not sure that we’re not at a point where the antagonisms are so deep and so virulent that you can’t get a continuing resolution.”
Overlaying the funding drama is the fallout from the firing of Susan Monarez, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), by Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This decision has triggered a wave of resignations among senior CDC officials, including Demetre Daskalakis, Daniel Jernigan, and Debra Houry, and raised alarms about the future of vaccination policies. According to KFF Health News, these actions are fueling concerns that Kennedy is advancing a political agenda on vaccines at the expense of sound science. The controversy will take center stage when Kennedy testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on September 4, 2025, about Trump’s 2026 health care agenda. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has already called for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to postpone its September 18 meeting, citing the agency’s turmoil and the need for oversight.
The shake-up at the CDC comes amid a backdrop of dramatic funding cuts to public health departments nationwide. Late March saw the Trump administration cancel nearly 700 CDC grants—totaling about $11 billion—disrupting efforts to vaccinate communities, reduce health disparities, upgrade disease detection systems, and employ community health workers. KFF Health News found that these cuts hit both blue and red states initially, but after lawsuits by about two dozen Democratic-led states, nearly 80% of the cuts in blue states were restored. In contrast, fewer than 5% of the cuts were reversed in GOP-led states, leaving them to absorb the brunt of the losses. In Texas alone, at least 30 grants were terminated, while California, after a successful court challenge, retained every grant.
The impact of these cuts has been severe. Public health departments have canceled vaccine clinics, laid off staff, and put critical contracts on hold. In Jackson, Ohio, for example, the cancellation of a CDC grant left the local health department half a million dollars short and several community health workers without jobs. Health Commissioner Kevin Aston described the experience as “really scary,” explaining that canceling funding midcycle could have financially devastated the health district. Marsha Radabaugh, a reassigned employee, recounted how her work delivering meals and helping the homeless was abruptly scaled back. “We would find them rehab places. We’d get out hygiene kits, blankets, tents, zero-degree sleeping bags, things like that,” she said. “As a counselor, I’d remind people that they’re cared for, that they’re worthy of being a human—because, a lot of the time, they’re not treated that way.”
These funding cuts have come at a perilous time. The U.S. is grappling with its largest measles outbreak in over 30 years and a deadly flu season that claimed 266 pediatric lives—the highest count outside a pandemic since 2004. The CDC’s grants, experts say, were essential for building infrastructure to respond to public health threats, not just for COVID-19 but for diseases like measles, flu, and RSV. Brent Ewig, of the Association of Immunization Managers, warned that the cuts are “the predictable result of ‘boom, bust, panic, neglect’ funding” for public health, leaving the system “blinking red.”
Meanwhile, President Trump’s other moves are equally contentious. His attempt to fire Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, has sparked debate about the independence of the central bank. Cook, appointed by former President Biden, has refused to resign and is suing the administration to keep her post. As the legal battle unfolds, several Republican senators have voiced concern that Trump’s actions could undermine market confidence and the broader economy. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) remarked, “It’s breaking new ground, but I don’t know whether the law allows it or not.”
On the law enforcement front, Trump’s emergency takeover of the Washington, D.C., police force is set to expire on September 10, 2025, with little chance of extension. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) was blunt: there’s “no f‑‑‑ing way” he’d support prolonging the National Guard deployment in the capital. Trump, however, plans to deploy National Guard troops in other cities and expand federal law enforcement operations near Chicago, moves that have left even some Republicans uneasy about the precedent and implications for federal-state relations.
Foreign policy is also in the spotlight. Following a devastating Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv that killed at least 21 people on August 28, 2025, Republican senators are pressing for increased military aid to Ukraine and tougher sanctions on Russia. While Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin, his actions have sometimes appeared at odds with his rhetoric. At an August summit in Alaska, Trump greeted Putin warmly, even as GOP senators like Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) push for a hard line. Political scientist Steven S. Smith noted, “I think the president wants to avoid committing the United States to another large donation of military weapons and funding if he can, but I think he’s getting pushed in the direction to quietly sign off on a congressionally designed package.”
Adding to the unease among Republicans is Trump’s landmark deal for the federal government to acquire a 10 percent stake in Intel, in exchange for roughly $11 billion in subsidies via the CHIPS and Science Act. While Trump has hailed the deal, many in his party are skeptical. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called it a “step toward socialism,” and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said it “starts feeling like a semi state-owned enterprise a la CCCP.” Sen. Todd Young, who helped draft the CHIPS Act, insisted that the bill’s authors never intended for it to enable partial government takeovers of private companies.
As Congress returns, the atmosphere is fraught with uncertainty and deepening partisan divides. From public health and economic policy to foreign affairs and the rule of law, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will have their hands full in the weeks ahead. The decisions made—or not made—in these coming days are poised to shape the nation’s trajectory well beyond this contentious autumn.