The stage is being set for a constitutional battle between President Donald Trump and a little-known federal watchdog over the extent of presidential authority on spending as Trump seeks to make sweeping federal spending and personnel cuts.
Trump and his allies want to reduce existing restrictions on the so-called impoundment power, which allows a president to decline to spend money delegated by Congress. According to Trump, the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which requires the president to seek permission to rescind funding, violates the Constitution and the separation of powers.
