Just over seven months into his second term, President Donald Trump has made significant headway toward his goal of weakening Congress’ centuries-old power of the purse — pushing the boundaries of executive authority and blocking what Democrats argue amounts to nearly a half-trillion dollars the administration is legally required to spend.
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Now, Trump’s collision course with Congress is rapidly intensifying as he will be forced into a high-stakes negotiation with Democrats to fund the government by September 30. The administration rolled what amounted to a hand grenade into the spending talks just before Congress returned to Washington this week by proposing to cancel $4.9 billion of foreign aid through what’s known as a “pocket recission,” a tactic that Democrats — and the top Republican Senate appropriator — said was illegal.
“This is a big deal… [Trump] has concentrated all this power in his hands,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations panel, said in an interview hours after the White House’s latest gambit to block foreign aid spending. “They are running around illegally stealing taxpayer money, and it is a unilateral partisan act that excludes any cooperation with Democrats.”
According to figures compiled by congressional Democrats, which have not been previously reported, the administration has so far withheld $425 billion that Congress had agreed to spend on programs like biomedical research, state and local crime fighting efforts and energy programs. It’s a number that congressional Democrats are likely to point to as they push for guardrails in upcoming talks with GOP leaders, who also voted to approve that spending.
