Stop Illegal Impoundment

“We've never seen a president in history do so much that’s clearly illegal, so fast,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the School of Law at UC Berkeley. As mandated by the U.S. Constitution, Congress is the branch of government with the power to tax and spend public money. Every year, the Senate and the House of Representatives must agree on a budget that will fund federal agencies, along with programs that distribute money to state and city governments, research institutions, nonprofit organizations and federal contractors. Once a budget has been approved, it is the responsibility of the president to see that these funds reach who they are meant for. If Congress sets aside $100 billion for education, the White House has to ensure that $100 billion goes to education spending, and is not used for something else — like the military. But if the president wants to freeze certain funds, he or she will have to send a formal request to Congress and wait 45 days for their approval (PDF). The funds that the federal government is currently distributing were already confirmed by Congress in previous budget agreements — so by law, Trump is required to fund programs that he may disagree with until every dollar that Congress allocated is spent. And an executive order can’t override this process either. “In our legal system, executive orders are pretty low on the hierarchy of types of law,” said Dave Owen, professor at UC Law San Francisco, whose research focuses on environmental law and water resource management. “An executive order can’t change the Constitution. An executive order also can’t change legislation,” he explained. “If Congress enacts spending provisions — for example, funding programs for electric vehicles — and a new president comes in and doesn’t like those programs, he has no authority to just stop spending on those programs.” From the NYT. Don’t participate in illegal impoundment of funds by the president by silence. If you don’t like the current spending, do your job and pass a law. The EO’s are destroying programs and more importantly destroying livelihoods in a capricious and arbitrary fashion.