Can President Trump ignore Congress' spending laws? The debate over impoundment

  • This question recapitulates the debate around line-item vetoes in respect of spending bills [1][2]. Based on SCOTUS precedent, which admittedly doesn't mean much nowadays, it is unconstitutional [3].

    [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-item_veto_in_the_United_S...

    [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-item_veto

    [3] https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep...

  • This seems like an easy "no" - why would we go through the effort of the House doing a spending bill, as constitutionally required. Seems implicit, and also traditional. Since the US has never done otherwise, that s the way it was when the US was great the first time around.

  • Let's say he can't ignore congress.

    But let's say congress don't care to act ... does it matter / do laws mean anything then?

    SCOTUS has decided the POTUS is off limits anyway ... does it even matter if congress or even the courts do anything?

    I suspect SCOTUS likely thinks they were being a little nuanced letting Trump off the hook legally, but I think they just started the landslide that now they can't stop. The SCOTUS majority has created an inevitable situation where absolute power reaches its obvious ending ...

  • Ideally "no", because otherwise the Presidency has a retroactive on-demand reversible line-item veto.

    It's funny, in 2015 I pondered if a Trump presidency would be so terrible that, as a silver lining, the Legislative branch would be motivated to claw-back some of the power it has delegated to the Executive over the years.

    As everyone knows, that's not how it turned out.