By Cliff Montgomery – July 14th, 2025
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released a very informative fact sheet on Jan 24th calling out Trump on his “Illegal and Unconstitutional Scheme to Withhold Funding Headed to Communities Across America.”
Though it’s already made the rounds, it so succinctly describes Trump’s illegal appropriation of federal funds that we though it best to quote the entire fact sheet here. The problem is that only Congress can deal out funds, tariffs, etc. – and the dollars Trump has denied to Americans have already been apportioned.
In other words, the money has already been legally given to these entities. It already belongs to them, legally. And Sen. Murray points out that the U.S. Constitution is clear, only Congress can apportion funds, or withhold them.
Below, the Spark quotes Sen. Murray’s entire fact sheet on Trump; it deserves such attention.
TRUMP’S ILLEGAL & UNCONSTITUTIONAL SCHEME TO WITHHOLD FUNDING HEADED TO COMMUNITIES ACROSS AMERICA
WHAT’S HAPPENED
In his first few hours in office, President Trump signed sweeping executive orders directing
agencies to immediately withhold funding provided by Congress and signed into law.
The orders call on agencies to, among other potential violations, halt disbursement of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as foreign development assistance.Trump’s directives are a brazen attempt to ignore federal law and block communities across America from receiving critical investments Congress has made to rebuild roads and bridges, connect families to high-speed internet, create new good-paying jobs, and more.
CONGRESS – NOT THE PRESIDENT – HAS POWER OF THE PURSE
The Constitution explicitly gives Congress, not the president, the power of the purse.
Article I, Section 9, Clause 7: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in
Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”The president does not have the power to override spending laws that Congress has passed and
the president has signed into law.
Presidents cannot unilaterally withhold or block investments that have been enacted into law—through what’s known as “impoundment.”
Presidents don’t get to pick and choose which parts of laws they feel like following, nor do they
get to pick and choose how much funding that was signed into law gets out to the American
people.
This foundational constitutional principle has been reaffirmed time and again:
The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that presidents do not have the unilateral
power to impound enacted funding in Train v. City of New York (1975).The Government Accountability Office has repeatedly made clear: “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law. …. The Constitution grants the President no unilateral authority to withhold funds from obligation.”The Impoundment Control Act, enacted in 1974, also makes plain that presidents cannot temporarily or permanently withhold enacted funding, and it established procedures the president can and must follow to propose delaying or rescinding funding.
Similarly: presidents cannot spend beyond what has been enacted into law or otherwise ignore spending laws.
As the Constitution clearly stipulates, the president cannot spend money that Congress has not
appropriated—nor can they override spending laws to pursue their own funding priorities.
The Anti-deficiency Act, which was first enacted in 1884, affirms the Executive Branch cannot
spend in excess of appropriations and establishes procedures for determining whether violations
have occurred and for reporting such violations.
Our founders understood the importance of this principle; it’s why they gave Congress the power of the purse and established a clear separation of powers in our Constitution. Presidents can’t just choose which parts of federal statutes they want to follow.
Trump’s actions jeopardize Congress’ ability to reach bipartisan deals, negotiate legislation, and deliver for constituents back home.
- Lawmakers must be able to trust that a deal is a deal when agreement is reached on
legislation. If presidents can unilaterally pick and choose which parts of a deal that gets signed into law they want to execute, that trust will be destroyed.TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDERS COULD ILLEGALLY RIP AWAY FUNDING FOR COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Trump’s illegal actions threaten funding that lawmakers have secured—often on a bipartisan basis—for their constituents in every part of the country.
If fully implemented, Trump’s directives to illegally withhold billions of dollars in enacted funding could:
- Halt or altogether cancel anticipated and ongoing infrastructure projects to rebuild roads and bridges, upgrade transit and transportation infrastructure, and connect families to high-speed internet.– Hurt families and kill good-paying jobs.
– Take a wrecking ball to initiatives to ensure the American people have access to clean air and water and to tackle the climate crisis and create new, good-paying jobs in the process.
- Undermine our national security and credibility on the world stage.TRUMP AND TOP AIDES’ VOWS TO “IMPOUND, BABY, IMPOUND”
Importantly, Trump’s executive orders directing his administration to withhold enacted funding
may well only represent his opening bid in his quest to amass power for himself, override the spending decisions made by Congress, and withhold investments for the American people.
Because Trump and his allies have been loudly broadcasting their intention to break the law and block funding Congress has provided for communities across the country—all while they pursue devastating spending cuts for American families and tax breaks for billionaires.
- Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail to wrest spending power from Congress and illegally impound funding, and of course, he illegally withheld security assistance for Ukraine in his first term, facts that ultimately led to his first impeachment.- Trump’s pick for OMB Director, Russ Vought, is a staunch Trump loyalist and a leading proponent of Trump ignoring our spending laws and blocking investments in the American people.- As OMB Director, Vought oversaw the illegal impoundment of security assistance during Trump’s first term—and rebuffed Congressional oversight efforts.
- He has called for Trump to illegally impound more investments.
- And during his confirmation hearings this month, Vought repeatedly refused to
commit to following the law if confirmed—despite conceding that no court has
ever found the Impoundment Control Act to be unconstitutional. - Trump also picked Mark Paoletta to serve as OMB General Counsel—someone who has
called the Impoundment Control Act a “stupid law” and urged Vought to “Impound,
Baby, Impound!” - When evading questions about whether he would illegally impound funding if confirmed as OMB Director, Russ Vought repeatedly said he would rely on the advice of Paoletta as General Counsel.
Bottom Line: Trump Cannot Unilaterally Rob Families And Communities Of Investments They’re Counting On
Democrats in Congress will fight Trump’s illegal attempts to hold up funding Congress has provided for communities across America.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should defend Congress’ constitutional power of the purse and ensure the investments they have worked so hard to secure for families back home make it to them, as intended and as enacted into law.
