[Grammar] “play with”

[Saraj Zhou]

”“We want to play any constructive role we can play with federal resources in getting to the bottom of it and preventing it from happening in the future,” Psaki said.” [from The Guardian]

1. Does “we can play with federal resources” is a relative clause and was the word “that” before “we” omitted?
2. What does “play with federal resources” mean?

 

[SoothingDave]

1. It's not "omitted," but a "that" could be used there. It's optional, not necessary.
2. Something like "use executive discretion to reroute funding that was appropriated for other uses."

 

[tzfujimino]

I think you're reading the text wrongly, Saraj Zhou.

"We want to play any constructive role we can play with federal resources in getting to the bottom of it and preventing it from happening in the future."

You should read it as "with federal resources", not "play with federal resources".

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Right. We want to play a role. What kind of role? Any kind of constructive role.

How will we play our role? We'll play it using federal resources — that is, money.

 

[Tdol]

They want to use federal powers as far as possible to find out why the building collapsed, bearing in mind that state powers will be important too.