Trump wants to 'impound' money Congress appropriated — but this 50-year-old law could get in the way

06 December 2024

Donald Trump is not the first Republican president-elect to complain that Congress spends too much money. But he has made a proposal that is unusual even for a Republican: withholding money or "impounding" money that Congress has already appropriated.

Bloomberg News reporter Steven T. Dennis examines Trump's ability — or inability — to do that in an article published on December 4.

"Trump wants to hold back some money — 'impound' it, in the jargon of Washington — to slash the budget," Dennis explains. "The only problem: There's a 50-year-old law that forbids that exact gambit."

The 50-year-old law that Dennis is referring to is the Impoundment Control Act in 1974, which Congress, Dennis notes, passed to "reassert its power over spending."

"While it set up a fast-track process for the president to quickly seek the approval of Congress if he wanted to override its spending decisions," Dennis explains, "it also established a mechanism for the U.S. comptroller general, who advises Congress, to sue the president for unauthorized impoundments."

The U.S. Constitution, according to Dennis, "explicitly grants Congress control over how much the government can spend."

Back in 1788, Dennis adds, James Madison referenced Congress' "power over the purse."

Read Bloomberg News' full article at this link (subscription required).

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