And if So?
Make Congress Irrelevant…
Since beginning his second term in January, President Donald Trump has claimed broad powers to refuse to spend congressionally allocated money for transportation projects, health research, education, “sanctuary cities” and more, saying the spending was wasteful or not aligned with the administration’s values.
One of his first acts, pausing about $30 billion in foreign aid through the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development, was followed by the dismantling of USAID. Congressional Democrats estimate a total of $430 billion in federal spending is now on hold.
Critics argue his moves violate the Constitution, which gives Congress the power of the purse….
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The legal battle over foreign aid has been long and complicated, bouncing to the Supreme Court and back over the past six months. In April, a sharply divided high court ruled a federal judge could order the Trump administration to pay back about $2 billion in aid for work already completed.
Last month, a panel of the federal appeals court in D.C. struck down a federal judge’s preliminary injunction requiring the Trump administration to spend billions in additional funds for future aid work, finding the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to sue…
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Lauren Bateman, an attorney for Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is representing some of the plaintiffs, said in a statement the Trump administration is attempting to usurp Congress’s constitutional authority to determine spending.
“The Administration is effectively asking the Supreme Court to bless its attempt to unlawfully accumulate power,” Bateman said.
Separately, the Trump administration moved last week to carry out a “pocket rescission” on about $5 billion in overseas assistance — essentially a play to run out the clock without spending the money until the end of the fiscal year. Democrats and Republicans have criticized the move, and a federal judge put it on hold, finding it was illegal….