The federal authorities should be shut down, however that hasn’t stopped President Donald Trump from promising some eye-wateringly massive checks.
How can Trump proceed to fund his pet applications regardless that federal appropriations ran out roughly three weeks in the past? Because it seems, Trump is usually leaning on artistic accounting and a slush fund that authorized consultants argue could violate federal legislation.
With the federal shutdown anticipated to tug on, Trump tasked Workplace of Administration and Finances Director Russell Vought with discovering methods to maintain cash flowing with out congressional approval—which is usually required—and Vought was apparently joyful to oblige.
“OMB is making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence,” the OMB wrote in an Oct. 14 put up on X. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the [reductions in force], and wait.”
Trump made good on Vought’s menace this previous Wednesday, when he signed an order authorizing Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth to pay the nation’s troops utilizing funds that Hegseth “determines are provided for purposes that have a reasonable, logical relationship to the pay and allowances of military personnel, consistent with applicable law.”
However federal coverage consultants on the nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Frequent Sense say that such a transfer possible violates the Antideficiency Act of 1888, which “prevents the government from spending money it doesn’t have.”
That’s of little concern to Trump, who is aware of that unpaid troops will shortly lose their endurance along with his harmful shutdown antics.
As Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern level out, Trump’s try to show himself right into a one-man Congress is an influence seize unprecedented in American historical past—and clearly in violation of the enumerated powers of Congress.
In truth, even Trump’s transfer to pay troops was critical sufficient that some Republican senators griped that the White Home wasn’t being straight with them about its authorized reasoning. Surprising!
“We’ve been given two different explanations,” stated Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, relating to paying troops in the course of the shutdown. “One, is that it’s unobligated balances. One, is that it’s taken from certain research and technology programs. But we don’t have the specifics. We have asked for the specifics.”
A farmer in Indiana drives a mix down a row of soybeans in 2019.
However Trump’s plan for his supposed slush fund goes far past simply repurposing cash already appropriated by Congress.
Final month, he promised struggling American farmers a federal assist bundle, saying he’d fund it with tariff income—sure, the very tariffs accountable for inflicting these farmers this a lot ache. However Congress must authorize that transfer, and it hasn’t even formally debated it but.
As with so many issues Trumpian, the issue just isn’t essentially who will profit from these monetary strikes. As an illustration, the administration has stated it needs to make use of tariff income to take care of meals help for pregnant girls, moms, and younger kids—a really worthwhile endeavor. Somewhat, the problem is that Trump is pushing the envelope on what extraordinary new powers he has, and this ploy can—and certain will—be used to serve much more of his personal pursuits sooner or later.
It’s straightforward to think about Trump ramping up tariffs merely to swell a conflict chest he alone oversees, freed from congressional oversight and used solely to advance his private targets. $10 billion to ICE for the acquisition of army weaponry? Achieved. No goal is just too self-interested or shady in a system the place Trump controls the purse strings of a parallel authorities treasury.
Democrats and authorities watchdogs are pinning their hopes on the federal courts to implement the legislation, however that could be wishful considering in a federal judiciary jam-packed with Trump loyalists.
In fact, Congress might rise up for itself, even going as far as to cross new legal guidelines explicitly criminalizing Trump’s artistic accounting, however that might require a Congress prepared to guard its personal constitutional prerogatives. And that’s unlikely so long as MAGA-aligned Republicans management each chambers.
Trump’s newest federal shutdown has supplied him yet one more testing floor for the unconstitutional energy grabs that outline his second time period. His administration has made clear it intends to press ahead until Congress or the courts cease them.
