America’s founding fathers—having just won independence from a monarchy—designed the Constitution to prevent a dangerous consolidation of power. As James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many … may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
The Constitution guards against tyranny through the separation of powers. And the “power of the purse,” or federal spending, is unequivocally assigned to Congress.
But the Trump Administration is attempting to snatch that power away.
On Monday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) blocked trillions of dollars in grants, loans, and other federal spending. Programs already approved by the majority of Republicans and Democrats in Congress were paused to allow White House appointees time to decide whether they aligned with the new administration’s priorities.
Chaos ensued, as state Medicaid agencies were unable to access federal funds and countless federal grantees—from Head Start programs to food safety inspectors—wondered whether they could meet payroll. After the OMB order was temporarily blocked by the courts, the Trump Administration rescinded the order on Wednesday. But the White House then announced its intent to use executive orders to pause funding for initiatives already approved by Congress, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which collectively fund hundreds of thousands of jobs across America.
While the ultimate scope of this executive overreach is unclear, its immediate effects will be dire. Safe drinking-water projects, Superfund cleanup, post-disaster rebuilding, and energy-efficiency upgrades for low-income homeowners all face payment delays, and these programs could ultimately grind to a halt.
The result: more polluted air and water, more hardship, and higher costs for working people.
Recipients of federal funding face a frustrating catch-22. State and local governments that were promised funds will stop work (and hiring) for fear that they won’t be reimbursed. But by stopping work on those federally funded projects, grant recipients will be “out of compliance” with their contracts—enabling the Trump Administration to cancel those contracts permanently.
The bigger picture is even darker. To be absolutely clear: The OMB memo is part of a strategic, coordinated effort to consolidate power in the executive branch. That effort closely tracks the game plan laid out in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump term. One of the project’s architects, Russell Vought, the former budget director, has again been nominated for that post.
These actions directly contradict the Constitution and the law. In 1974, the federal Impoundment Control Act prohibited the executive branch from deferring or delaying funding that Congress has appropriated for policy reasons. The law was part of a post-Watergate suite of reforms aimed at reining in presidential power and to confirm that the power of the purse rests squarely with Congress, not the President. But in his Senate confirmation earlier this month, Vought vowed to defy the Impoundment Control Act.
This President, like all presidents before him, must wrangle with a democratically elected Congress to enact his agenda. That requires dialogue and compromise—the necessary work of governing a sprawling, diverse nation.
Part of the new administration’s strategy appears to be to “flood the zone” with a torrent of words and legally questionable actions. For ordinary people with jobs and families, it’s too much to follow, much less resist. We struggle to separate the signal from the noise, the merely symbolic from the truly dangerous. This Administration’s move to snatch the power of the purse from Congress falls into the latter category. It is a bold reconfiguration of power that could have a far-reaching impact on our lives and our government.
If you’ve been tuning out the firehose of news from this Administration’s first days, it’s time to sit up and take notice. These efforts will impact everyone who benefits from government programs: veterans, teachers, health care workers, air monitors, low income communities, and more.
Urge your Senators to resist this unconstitutional expansion of presidential power by opposing the appointment of Russell Vought, mastermind of Project 2025, as Trump’s budget director. And remember that “the accumulation of all powers” in the hands of an individual or branch of government is the “very definition of tyranny.”
This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.
