CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATIONS

On January 20, 2025, the day of his inauguration, President Donald J. Trump unilaterally ordered an immediate 90-day “pause” in the payment of most, if not all, of the foreign aid money that the United States Congress had previously appropriated. The President’s “Executive Order” went on to require the outright cancellation of any such foreign aid that the President has not specifically approved on or before the end of the 90-day “pause.” Since Inauguration day, the President has either suspended payment, or else cancelled outright other expenditures previously authorized by Congressional appropriations, including payroll for large numbers of federal employees who have been fired or laid off en masse.

The President had, and still has, legal authority to issue suspension orders, but not cancellation orders against Congressional appropriations. He can only recommend cancellations. However, before he takes such actions, the “Impoundment Control Act of 1974,” 2 U.S.C. §§ 681-688, plainly requires that he formally notify Congress of his intentions in a “special message” delivered to both houses. 2 U.S.C. §§683(a), 684(a). The required “message” must detail the reasons for the recommended suspension or cancellation. For mere suspensions, he must detail the legal grounds therefor. 2 U.S.C. §§683(a)(3-5), 684(a)(3-6). To the knowledge of this writer, no such “special message” has ever been delivered to Congress by President Trump.

The plain purpose of the Impoundment Control Act’s “special message” requirements is to give Congress an immediate opportunity to formally challenge the President’s stated intentions, either by refusing to enact his proposed cancellation of a Congressional appropriation into law, 2 U.S.C. §683(b), or by taking his proposed suspension of an appropriated payment obligation to court to test its legality, 2 U.S.C. §§ 684(b), 687. Article II, Section 3 of the federal Constitution requires the President to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” President Trump failed to follow the “special message” requirements of the Impoundment Control Act. Because his duties as President are plainly incorporated into the oath-of-office he took on Inauguration Day, see U.S. Const., Art. II, § 2, his failures to obey the Impoundment Control Act amount to “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” under the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 4. He can be impeached for that.