"In just the past 11 months, his administration has canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid, frozen billions of dollars in research grants, imposed new conditions on other grants and contracts, slashed agency staffs, and even sought to claw back certain prior grant payments. At the same time, it has employed military resources to assist immigration enforcement, offered civil-service buyouts without statutory authority, and reportedly used a private donation to help pay military salaries during this fall's government shutdown."
"If this pattern holds, the result will be less responsive governance, more wild swings in policy across administrations, and a less restrained and accountable executive branch. America is dangerously close to a world in which all federal policy hinges on the outcomes of presidential elections, no matter how narrow the margin of victory. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress holds the "power of the purse," meaning the authority to direct federal spending."
The Trump administration took unprecedented steps to assert control over federal spending by canceling billions in foreign aid, freezing research grants, and imposing new conditions on grants and contracts. The administration also slashed agency staffs, sought to claw back prior grant payments, used military resources to assist immigration enforcement, offered civil-service buyouts without statutory authority, and reportedly relied on a private donation to help cover military salaries during a government shutdown. These actions create precedents that make reversing presidential spending control difficult without congressional pushback. Congress is more divided and less effective than in past confrontations, and its response has been weak, risking less responsive, more volatile, and less accountable governance.
Read at The Atlantic
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