The Trump administration is looking to downsize the government and has announced efforts to cut spending, fire career officials and reassess where it sends federal money. However, U.S. laws as far back as Article 1 of the Constitution give Congress, not the president, the power to decide where taxpayer money goes.
So, the Trump administration is reportedly preparing to challenge a 50-year-old law that reinforced Congress’s power.
Bloomberg reports that its team saw a slide presentation labeled “confidential” that came from inside the Trump White House. The presentation contains dozens of suggestions for expanding the president’s powers, including challenging the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
The law came about at the height of the Watergate scandal. At the time, Congress worried then-President Richard Nixon was blocking spending they approved for programs he opposed.
President Trump has already tried taking a similar approach. Trump ordered a freeze on spending across government until the agencies can review whether their departments included funding for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives. The White House has since rescinded the memo.
Russel Vought, Trump’s nominee to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget, told senators during his confirmation hearing earlier this month that he believed limits on the president’s ability to decide where to spend money are unconstitutional.
Some of Trump’s early actions could lead to a court challenge to the Impoundment Control Act if the White House chooses to do so.
While Democrats in Congress have called Trump’s actions unlawful impoundment, the White House says the spending holdups do not qualify because the freezes are temporary pauses.