Trump risks legal clashes in plans to not spend appropriations [View all]
Source: Roll Call
Posted December 12, 2024 at 5:15pm, Updated December 17, 2024 at 4:41pm
The incoming Trump administration plan to slash federal spending would have to overcome decades of court decisions and likely face a Supreme Court showdown, experts say, a legal headwind highlighted by President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of deputy director for the Office of Management and Budget. Trump and allies, including OMB director pick Russ Vought and external advisors Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have argued the president can unilaterally choose not to spend funds appropriated by Congress — a process known as impoundment.
A 1974 law called the Impoundment Control Act mandates that presidents spend funds appropriated by Congress. A report published by the Vought-led Center for Renewing America argued that the appropriations clause only put a “ceiling” on federal funding and said the 1974 law was an “unprecedented break” with the nation’s history.
The report said that “for much of the Nation’s history, such a congressional power was so beyond the realm of constitutional permissibility that it was almost never even asserted.” Musk and Ramaswamy, tapped to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the 1974 law is unconstitutional and “we believe the current Supreme Court would likely side with him on this question.”
And Trump in a campaign video last year said he intends to use the “long-recognized impoundment power to squeeze the bloated federal bureaucracy for massive savings.” For decades courts have ruled that presidents cannot ignore Congress’ power to appropriate funds and decide on their own not to spend them, experts said.
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2024/12/12/trump-risks-legal-clashes-in-plans-to-not-spend-appropriations/
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