#VoteBlue
Judd Legum thread.
1. Trump says that if he returns to the White House, he will have the power to cancel any federal program — or an entire agency — by refusing to spend $ appropriated by Congress
A federal law prohibits this
But Trump says he will do it anyway
Here is how the scheme works:
https://x.com/JuddLegum/status/1810653326242877693
Judd Legum:
2. In a video, Trump says that the president has "the Constitutional power to stop unnecessary spending through what is known as Impoundment." According to Trump, if Congress appropriates money that he decides is unnecessary, he has the authority to "refuse to waste the extra funds."
Judd Legum:
3. The last president to claim the authority to impound Congressionally-appropriated funds was Nixon. In the 1970s, Nixon unilaterally canceled billions in spending "for highways, water pollution, environmental assistance, drug rehabilitation, public housing, and disaster relief."
Judd Legum:
5. Trump, however, has decided that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional and has pledged to challenge it in court. Trump says he will use his self-proclaimed impoundment authority on "Day One" to secure "massive savings" and "crush the deep state"
Judd Legum:
6. The implications of Trump's claimed authority are enormous. For example, Trump has said he wants to "abolish the Department of Education." It would be extremely difficult to get Congress, even if it were under full Republican control, to approve such a deeply unpopular plan. Now, Trump is claiming the power to eliminate the Department of Education unilaterally by cutting off its funding.
Judd Legum:
7. Trump is also reportedly considering using impoundment to eliminate "green energy subsidies approved by President Biden as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and funding for the World Health Organization."
Judd Legum:
8. Reviving presidential impoundment is a priority of Russ Vought, Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Vought is a key author of Project 2025, the radical blueprint for a second Trump administration.
He is spearheading Project 2025's 180-day "playbook" for Trump — a document that will not be released publicly.
Judd Legum:
9 of 9. Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist, favors circumventing Congress to impose a far-right ideological agenda.
"What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them," Vought told the New York Times.
It was a good article this morning!
@Bix I wasn't here for that -- another GOP-criminal tantrum / cash grab, or...?
Judd Legum:
4. Nixon's impoundment funds was challenged frequently — and often successfully — in court.
But, to remove any doubt, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which prohibits the president from impounding funds without Congressional approval.