URGENT: Stop Trump’s Illegal Reprogramming of $396b in Funds

Republican senators are raising concerns about President Trump bypassing Congress’s power of the purse by reprogramming funds without proper approval. This violates the constitutional separation of powers our founders designed to prevent exactly this type of executive overreach. When Nixon tried the same maneuver in the 1970s, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act to stop it. Senator Patty Murray estimates at least $396 billion in appropriated funding has been withheld, covering clean water infrastructure, roads, medical research, and National Park maintenance. Your role is to protect the power of the purse. If you don’t hold this administration accountable now, you’re surrendering Congress’s authority permanently. Trump promised to lower costs for American families, but his tariff policies are doing the opposite. U.S. consumers are now shouldering 55% of tariff costs, according to Goldman Sachs. The average tariff rate has hit 17.4%, the highest since 1935, costing households an extra $2,300 in 2025 according to the Yale Budget Lab. Coffee prices jumped nearly 10% in four months. Groceries accelerated 0.6% in August alone, the biggest monthly increase since 2022. These aren’t abstract numbers. They’re hitting working families at the grocery store, the gas pump, and everywhere else. This is the opposite of what he campaigned on. Meanwhile, Trump is demanding $170 billion for immigration enforcement, including almost $50 billion for deportation camps. Despite this massive spending, deportations still lag behind the Obama administration, and most immigrants arrested don’t have serious criminal convictions. The crackdown is crushing local economies where immigrants, who paid over $90 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2024, are now too afraid to leave their homes. Businesses are closing. Tax revenue is disappearing. Economists warn this will mean fewer job opportunities and higher prices for Americans, not more safety or prosperity. The Constitution gives Congress exclusive power over federal spending. Trump is challenging that authority using tactics explicitly outlawed after Nixon’s abuses. Whether you’re concerned about fiscal responsibility, constitutional limits on executive power, or protecting American families from rising costs, this demands your immediate oversight. The branches of government were designed as checks on each other for exactly this reason. Use that power now.