A worker removes the U.S. Agency for International Development sign on their headquarters on February 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) abruptly shutdown the U.S. aid agency earlier this week leaving thousands unemployed and putting U.S. foreign diplomacy and aid programs in limbo.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
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Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
A worker removes the U.S. Agency for International Development sign on their headquarters on February 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) abruptly shutdown the U.S. aid agency earlier this week leaving thousands unemployed and putting U.S. foreign diplomacy and aid programs in limbo.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
So the president can’t spend more money than Congress has agreed and voted to spend. But can the president spend less money than Congress wants?
It all comes down to something called “impoundment” and the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which controls when and how a president can take away money Congress has appropriated.
President Trump followed the Impoundment Control Act rules back in 2018. But now, in his second term, he’s saying he thinks that law is unconstitutional.
On this episode: the history of impoundment, from Thomas Jefferson to Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. And what constitutional scholars and judges are saying after Trump attempted to dismantle a federal agency and freeze trillions in federal funding that goes to states for everything from new school buses to public health research.
Check out The Indicator’s episodes on the gutting of USAID and how American farmers are affected in USAID cuts. And, our previous episode on the big government money pipe that’s being closely watched right now.
This episode was hosted by Sarah Gonzalez. It was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Meg Cramer. It was fact-checked by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. Engineering by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.
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Music: Universal Music Production, “Hi-Tech Expert,” “Black Excellence,” and “Walk The Dream.”
