Recess Appointments And Impoundment
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/24/opinion/trump-recess-appointments-constitution.html
One of the nice things about being the president of an academic institution such as MD Anderson is that you get to appoint anyone you want with no one vetting your choices and you get to spend your budget the way you wish. Any person you choose to be a vice president is likely to get the job whether qualified or not. (See current crop.) Taking money from one pot and moving it to another is part of the job description. You decide what is best for the faculty and the staff and you can close down any program you wish to and start a new one with the money from the first. It’s a great job.
As the conservative writer David French points out in The New York Times on November 25, these things are not true of the President of the United States.
There is arising a concern that President-elect Trump may well try to circumvent convention and the Constitution and act like the president of an academic cancer center.
Concern one is the threat of the use of recess appointments, appointing agency leaders while Congress is out of session without the Constitutionally-mandated advice and consent of the Senate. Of course, the Senate can fight this by not going into recess, but that will largely depend on how much the Senate Republicans are willing to bend to the will of Mr. Trump. There can be no doubt that, as in every new set of Cabinet choices, there are those who can stand with some vetting before they take over billion-dollar agencies such as the Pentagon. This is the constitutional duty of the Senate and the senators cannot give it up.
It appears that Mr. Trump may well have lost two of his critical appointments-Matt Gaetz is gone and Pete Hegseth is on the rocks.
Don’t be surprised if Mr. Trump tries to find a way to get some of these appointees through without the Senate’s approval. Several have questionable records that may well disqualify them for the job for which they have been anointed. The Senate and its new leader John Thune must show the backbone needed to do its job.
Impoundment is the President of the United States deciding not to spend money for purposes authorized and appropriated by Congress. As Mr. French rightly points out, the Founding Fathers put the most power of the three branches of government in the hands of the legislature. Back then, only the House was directly elected by the people. Thus, all spending bills have to originate in the House.
If Congress decides to authorize money for a project and the Appropriations Committee agrees, the President does not have the choice of whether or not to do it. This has been codified in the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Trump will undoubtedly decide not to do this at some point. Who will hold him accountable?
The most interesting part of the Trump election is how much of a test of the constitutional republic that is the United States his administration is likely to be. Keep an eye on recess appointments and impoundment. Trump’s actions may wind up before the Supreme Court or he could even be impeached for a third time.
Donald Trump is likely to test the integrity of the Constitution of the United States and Article One where the powers of Congress are listed in Section One, Articles 7 and 8. Are we still going to be a constitutional republic when he is done? Stay tuned.
