There is a long, bipartisan history of attempts to rein in spending and address concerns about government inefficiencies, though the parties have grown increasingly divided about what to cut.

The withdrawal of the federal freeze was a stunning about-face for President Donald Trump’s White House, which has so far pushed the envelope to reshape the federal government, sowing chaos and confusion in firing career civil servants, pausing foreign aid programs and offering federal workers a buyout.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday largely defended President Trump’s authority to temporarily freeze disbursements of federal funding for a variety of grants and other assistance programs, but said they still had some questions.