But then the Trump administration took over, and it has not decided whether to keep the appeal going. Indeed, it’s unclear what the White House hopes to accomplish by escalating the threat to stop the payments, since Congressional Republicans could get caught in that crossfire. Some Republicans privately say that they want the CSRs to continue, because vulnerable House Republicans could be harmed politically if they don’t. And so, in one sense, the latest White House threat could ratchet up the pressure on congressional Republicans to fix the problem. There is no excuse not to.”But nonetheless, the White House is not saying that the payments will continue, which suggests, despite this denial, that the payments are still being used as leverage to try to force Dems to give the White House what it wants.

Source: Washington Post April 26, 2017 14:15 UTC