https://www.unftr.com/blog/russputin-and-the-tsar?_hsmi=337445956
But Nixon went off the rails and held back funding for key budget items that he personally despised under the power of “impoundment.” As ProPublica writes,
“President Richard Nixon took impoundment to a new extreme, wielding the concept to gut billions of dollars from programs he simply opposed, such as highway improvements, water treatment, drug rehabilitation and disaster relief for farmers. He faced overwhelming pushback both from Congress and in the courts.”
To ensure that this never happened again, in 1974 Congress passed the Budget and Impoundment Control Act. When Russputin left the Trump administration he founded the Center for Renewing America, a conservative Christian think tank that takes aim at things like Critical Race Theory and Immigration and supports economic policies such as a Balanced Budget Amendment.
The central thesis of the Russputin’s think tank is that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional, despite multiple attempts to dismantle it that failed in federal court. Russputin believes that Trump has the legitimate authority to override the act to divert funding away from the Biden budget for 2025 as well as the ability to simply shutter federal agencies without seeking Congressional approval. It’s a bold stance given the legislative and judicial history of upholding the act over the years. But Russputin is banking on one crucial difference between now and all the other attempts to repeal this provision: The complete control of Congress and the higher courts.
By the time any appeals reach the conservative Supreme Court, where it certainly stands a chance of going Trump’s way, the damage would theoretically be done because they’ve packed so many of the higher courts with conservative justices thanks to the hard work of none other than Leonard Leo. In other words, good luck getting an injunction on these actions in time to save the country.
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