Freeze On Federal Funds Flagrantly Violates The Constitution
Trump’s Executive Orders Reveal A Full On Fascist Regime
[Update: 1/29/25 – OMB was forced to rescind the memo! (Washington Post)
Believe it or not, the Elon Musk Office Of Personnel Management’s first attempt to implement Trump’s Executive Order on firing federal experts (Schedule F) with a hostile and fake buyout was even worse. And this is Trump’s second term A-Team! ~~~ end update]
On Trump’s Day One, I wrote:
Trump has also threatened to impound and/or reallocate funds appropriated by Congress (e.g. Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, et al), thereby over-riding Congress’ exclusive power of the purse. I haven’t read all of the Executive Orders to determine whether he did so on day one.
see: Trump Just Declared Himself Dictator – L’État, C’est Moi
Well, I don’t need to read all the Executive Orders to find out. Trump in fact did so on day one, as the Office Of Management And Budget “freeze” memo openly states:
This memorandum requires Federal agencies to identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements. For example, during the initial days of his Administration, President Donald J. Trump issued a series of executive orders to protect the American people and safeguard valuable taxpayer resources…
To implement these orders, each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.
OMB acted based on Trump’s Executive Orders. The OMB memo effectively impounds Congressionally appropriated federal funds and thus usurps Congress’ budget power.
OMB’s only stated basis for doing so are claims that “financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities,” and that “the use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”
Congress makes the laws, Congress establishes policies and priorities, and Congress controls that authorization and appropriation of federal funds for specific purposes, NOT the President via Executive Order and OMB by unilateral memo.
Trump has also violated his Constitutional mandate that the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Article II, Section 3).
The Trump regime has transparently and egregiously usurped Congress’s Constitutional legislative and budget powers.
Trump’s freeze also violates the Impoundment Control Act, passed in 1974 to block Nixon’s similar attempts to unconstitutionally impound funds. As the Act makes very clear, Trump violated the Congressional notification process and usurped Congress’ “impoundment review process”.
According to the US General Accounting Office Report::
The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 created the procedural means by which the Congress considers and reviews executive branch withholdings of budget authority. It requires the President to report promptly to the Congress all withholdings of budget authority and to abide by the outcome of the congressional impoundment review process.
Will the federal Courts uphold the Constitution and block further consolidation of power in Trump’s Fascist regime?
When do the American people take to the streets to remove this Tyrant?