Trump Promises Challenge to Law Limiting Presidential Govt Spending Power

Former President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday, if elected, he will prioritize a court challenge to the 1974 Impoundment Control Act that limits the ability of presidents to either delay or cancel government spending.

In a Truth Social post, which included an Agenda 47 policy video from Rumble, Trump promised to “use the president’s long-recognized Impoundment Power to squeeze the bloated federal bureaucracy for massive savings,” asserting the move “will help quickly to stop inflation and slash the deficit.”

“For 200 years under our system of government, it was undisputed that the president had the constitutional power to stop unnecessary spending through what is known as impoundment,” Trump said in a statement.

“Very simply, this meant that if Congress provided more funding than was needed to run the government, the president could refuse to waste the extra funds, and instead return the money to the general treasury and maybe even lower your taxes.”

Trump would direct federal agencies to identify portions of their budgets “where massive savings are possible through the Impoundment Power, while maintaining the same level of funding for defense, Social Security, and Medicare.”

The statement derided the 1974 act as “the source of Congress’ usurpation of Executive Branch powers.”

“Reasserting the president’s historic impoundment authority will also restore critical negotiating leverage with Congress to keep spending under control. Very simple. We are going to keep spending under control,” Trump’s statement said, adding, “This is the only way we will ever return a balanced budget: Impoundment.”

Trump’s vow could trigger constitutional and legal issues.

The Trump administration’s tried, but failed, to use the 1974 law to withhold military aid to Ukraine in 2019.