{"id":38759,"date":"2025-02-15T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=38759"},"modified":"2025-02-15T07:29:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T07:29:47","slug":"congress-not-the-president-decides-on-government-spending-%e2%88%92-a-constitutional-law-professor-explains-how-the-power-of-the-purse-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/congress-not-the-president-decides-on-government-spending-%e2%88%92-a-constitutional-law-professor-explains-how-the-power-of-the-purse-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress, not the president, decides on government spending \u2212 a constitutional law professor explains how the \u2018power of the purse\u2019 works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Zachary Price<\/a>, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to cut staff and spending, Congress\u2019 \u201cpower of the purse\u201d has been in the news lately. Many of these actions have been challenged in court<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a law professor<\/a> who has written about Congress\u2019 power of the purse and some of the legal and constitutional issues that surround it. Here\u2019s a brief explanation of the concept \u2013 and of why you should care about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress holds what\u2019s commonly called the \u201cpower of the purse<\/a>.\u201d Congress, in other words, holds the authority to control government expenditures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concretely, Congress may enact laws<\/a> that raise revenue through taxes and import duties, and it may also spend money for \u201cthe common Defence and general Welfare,\u201d terms in the Constitution that are understood to cover almost any spending that Congress thinks is a good idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Constitution, however, provides that \u201c[n]o Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.\u201d Because of this clause, officials may not spend any government money unless a statute \u201cappropriates,\u201d or makes available, specific funds for the relevant purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Constitution forbids any appropriation for the Army that lasts longer than two years<\/a>, Congress can choose in other contexts whether to provide an appropriation permanently or only for a prescribed length of time. Some benefits programs such as Social Security today have permanent appropriations<\/a>, but most government agencies receive funds for their operations for just a year at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
James Madison, who wrote much of the U.S. Constitution, said Congress\u2019 power of the purse was \u2018the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people.\u2019 wynnter-iStock\/Getty Images Plus<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Leverage over policy and presidents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Why does all of this matter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, the British Parliament\u2019s control over government funds created a powerful check on the crown<\/a>, and Parliament developed the practice of annual appropriations to ensure that it would always have leverage over royal policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting this history, James Madison, the fourth president and a leading figure in the Constitutional Convention<\/a>, wrote in the Federalist Papers that the power of the purse was \u201cthe most complete and effectual weapon<\/a> with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sort of leverage over policy still matters. American presidents today exercise vast powers. Over time, Congress has conferred extensive regulatory authorities<\/a> on administrative agencies that operate under the president\u2019s supervision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress has also established a large Army, Navy, and Air Force over which the president is commander in chief<\/a>. Presidents, moreover, have claimed the power to employ these armed forces in significant ways even without a declaration of war<\/a> or other specific authorization from Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress\u2019 power of the purse gives it a say in how these powers are exercised. If Congress doesn\u2019t like what an administrative agency is doing, it can cut its budget or deny funds for enforcing certain regulations \u2013 something it does regularly<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, Congress can deny funds for certain military operations or impose constraints on military activities \u2013 something it also does with some regularity. In the 1970s, Congress helped end the Vietnam War in part by withholding appropriations for military activities in Indochina<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s in charge here?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Annual appropriations also give rise to the frustrating phenomenon of government \u201cshutdowns<\/a>\u201d: If annual funding runs out before Congress enacts new appropriations, government agencies generally must halt operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the whole, however, annual appropriations continue to serve much the same purpose in the United States that they did in Britain: They provide a potent check on the executive branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given how strong this check is, it may not be surprising that presidents have sought ways to get around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
President Donald Trump, right, and Elon Musk, left, are cutting congressionally approved government programs and staff \u2013 an effort that may be unconstitutional. Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Based on debatable legal claims<\/a>, President Barack Obama continued certain health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act even after Congress denied appropriations for them. President Joe Biden attempted massive student debt relief without clear authority from Congress<\/a>. Courts blocked both those actions, but now the new Trump administration has adopted several controversial policies that implicate Congress\u2019 power of the purse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the one hand, the administration has apparently offered<\/a> many federal employees nine months of paid leave if they agree to resign from federal service. But the legal basis for these offers is unclear<\/a>, and it may be that no current appropriation by Congress provides funds for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the administration has attempted to \u201cpause\u201d certain government spending<\/a>, even though existing appropriations made by Congress may require at least some of this spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These actions could violate not only Congress\u2019 constitutional power of the purse but also specific statutes that Congress has enacted to reinforce its constitutional power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The buyout offers could violate a law called the Anti-Deficiency Act<\/a> that makes it unlawful, and sometimes criminal, for government officials to commit to spending money without an appropriation providing the necessary funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For their part, the pauses could violate a 1974 law called the Impoundment Control Act<\/a> that generally forbids the government from delaying or withholding spending that Congress has mandated. Courts are now considering challenges<\/a> to these actions based on these laws and other issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump may be hoping that Congress will cure any legal problems by ratifying these actions after the fact in its next round of appropriations legislation. But if Trump is indeed defying Congress\u2019 spending laws and yet faces no consequences, his actions could chip away at Congress\u2019 authority to check presidential policies in the future through its spending choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Madison would not have been pleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zachary Price<\/a>, Associate Professor of Law, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zachary Price, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco Because of the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to cut staff and spending, Congress\u2019 \u201cpower of the purse\u201d has been in the news lately. Many of these actions have been challenged in court. I\u2019m a law professor who has written about Congress\u2019 power of the purse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":38761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[826,5,277,46,295,10,296,36,27,4],"tags":[8928,710,479,6674,7209,7046,885,891,886,860,4605,1797,686],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38762,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38759\/revisions\/38762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}