During the rise of the GOP “tea party” on Capitol Hill, conservative members of Congress proudly displayed pocket Constitutions in their suit jackets.
The all-important power to raise and spend public money was granted to Congress in Article One of the U.S. Constitution as the ultimate check on executive power. Congress makes the laws — including how our tax dollars are raised and spent — and the executive branch ensures those laws are carried out. The United States was not supposed to be a monarchy.
As the tea party movement has given way to the extremist MAGA movement under President Donald Trump, those calling themselves “conservatives” seem less enamored of the Constitution, raising the question of what becomes of a constitutional democracy when the Constitution itself is disposable.
It’s as if Trump has reached into those little GOP suit pockets, snatched the Constitution, and replaced it with “pocket recissions,” freezes and spending delays that shred this foundational principle of our separation of powers.
A “recission” happens when the president asks Congress to claw back spending that lawmakers have approved, most often through the bipartisan annual appropriations process.
Although the appropriations process can be fraught, as long as both chambers of Congress work together, it follows the principles outlined in the Constitution for allocating resources for the public good. It maintains the separation of powers and provides a critical check on the partisan or ideological agendas of the executive branch.
Under the Constitution, only Congress can approve a clawback of funds if the president requests it. Unilateral attempts by the president to cut, freeze, delay or otherwise refuse to spend funds approved by lawmakers are unconstitutional, illegal and dangerous to our democracy.
In 1974, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act to curb unconstitutional efforts by then-President Richard Nixon to override Congress’ spending decisions unilaterally. The ICA creates a pathway for the president to request a rescission but enacts strict controls, including that the funds be released 45 days after the president’s request if lawmakers don’t approve it.
However, Trump has perverted these restrictions, baselessly claiming unfettered permission to slash spending approved by our representatives. It effectively creates a presidential line-item veto, something already ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Most recently, Trump sent a shot across the bow of Congress with a so-called “pocket rescission,” illegally impounding $5 billion in foreign aid that Congress has obligated. He claims the right to freeze these funds until the end of the fiscal year, on Sept. 30, after which the time to spend them will have expired. He’s essentially trying to run out the clock.
A federal judge ruled the funds in this attempted illegal impoundment — and an additional $6 million in foreign aid that the Trump administration is trying to freeze — must be released. However, the administration filed an appeal to the MAGA-friendly Supreme Court, and Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily approved Trump’s request to impound the $4 billion illegally.
All told, as the end of the fiscal year approaches, the administration has illegally frozen at least $410 billion of congressionally approved funds for farmers, families, communities and small businesses, flouting the foundational principle of the Constitution.
All lawmakers who claim to follow the Constitution must immediately and forcefully reject the administration’s illegal power grab and disperse the legally appropriated funds to the public. We should demand it.
