The Lawfare Podcast Lawfare Daily: The President, Congress, and the Power of the Purse
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Apr 29, 2025 Matt Lawrence, an Associate Professor of Law at Emory, Eloise Pasachoff from Georgetown, and Zach Price from UC Law San Francisco delve into the concept of 'Appropriations Presidentialism.' They discuss how the executive branch seeks to control federal fund allocation, examining historical tensions between Congress and the presidency. The trio also highlights the unique spending tactics of the Trump administration, the intricacies of legal challenges in federal spending, and the evolving balance of power in legislative oversight.
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Scope and Scale of Executive Spending Actions
- Prior executive spending oversteps often involved emergencies or signature priorities.
- Current administration tactics show broad, punitive, and wholesale agency-wide funding cancellations.
Challenges for Courts in Spending Cases
- Court involvement is uneasy in spending disputes due to politicized and administrative complexity.
- Courts prefer political checks through Congress over micromanaging agency spending choices.
Trust Shapes Spending Power Balance
- Executive branch trust enforces congressional spending instructions but breaking trust risks system overhaul.
- Losing trust can lead to more rigid congressional spending rules, reducing executive flexibility and program effectiveness.