The Trump White House Wants A Court Challenge Over Frozen Funds
The Trump administration's federal government funding freeze instituted Monday and apparently rescinded Wednesday appears to be a part of the White House's official policy to get courts to hand President Donald Trump the power to pick and choose which congressionally authorized funding he will spend, according to a confidential document obtained by HuffPost.
The confidential Office of Management and Budget document outlining 'regulatory misalignment' calls on Trump to issue executive orders blocking the release of appropriated funds in order to provoke a court challenge over the president's power to impound such funds.
'Use executive orders to impound funds exceeding legislative intent or conflicting with constitutional duties, citing national security, fiscal waste, or statutory ambiguities,' the document states. 'Seek legal precedent to affirm the President's Article II powers under the Take Care Clause and Executive Vesting Clause.'
That is what is playing out with the now-rescinded OMB memo freezing federal grants, loans and financial assistance across the federal government.
Less than 12 hours after the OMB memo's release, it was challenged in court by Democratic state attorneys general and a coalition of nonprofit groups. The challenge brought by the nonprofit groups resulted in a judge issuing a temporary restraining order blocking the freeze from going into effect Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, the administration rescinded the memo but then claimed that the policy was still in effect and officials only rescinded the memo to get courts to drop the restraining order. A second judge issued another temporary restraining order on Wednesday after the administration rescinded the original memo.
This confusing series of events and conflicting statements and actions may be a fiasco, but the confidential OMB document makes clear that the administration intends on fomenting this very court challenge over the president's power to not spend congressionally authorized funds.
Trump is targeting the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, a law that greatly restricts the ability of the president to defer or deny spending funds authorized by Congress. The law was passed after President Richard Nixon refused to spend funds appropriated for pollution cleanup and mental health centers, among other things. The Government Accountability Office determined that Trump violated it in 2019 when he withheld funds from Ukraine as part of a blackmail scheme targeting his 2020 election opponent Joe Biden.
Russell Vought, Trump's OMB director in his first term and current nominee to run it again, has been vocal about his belief the law is unconstitutional and that the president has inherent constitutional authority to refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress as he desires. The Senate has not yet confirmed Vought to the position.
Similarly, billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the White House's Department of Government Efficiency initiative, has also pushed for challenging the Impoundment Control Act and stated in an op-ed written with his former DOGE co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy that 'we believe the current Supreme Court would likely side with him on this question.'
In response to a question about the confidential document, OMB provided a statement from press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
'In light of the injunction, OMB has rescinded the memo to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage,' Leavitt said in the statement. 'The Executive Orders issued by the President on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments. This action should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the President's orders on controlling federal spending. In the coming weeks and months, more executive action will continue to end the egregious waste of federal funding.'
Whether or not the current OMB funding freeze remains in effect, the OMB document and Leavitt's statement make clear that the Trump administration wants this fight and it will happen — if not now, then later.
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