Former President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to bring back a presidential power that would allow him to cut spending if he's reelected, RealClearPolitics reports.
Trump recently said during a rally in New Hampshire that he would restore the impoundment power, saying that "a lot of you don't know what that is."
According to the Library of Congress, "no definition for this term exists in statute or in Supreme Court case law," but "one possible definition … describes Executive Branch action or inaction that results in a delay or refusal to spend appropriated funds, whether or not a statute authorizes the withholding."
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requires the president to request Congress rescind appropriated funds, but Congress is under no obligation to vote on that request.
Sources told RealClearPolitics that Trump plans to challenge this law in court, and, failing that, to push the legislature to repeal it.
Trump told the news outlet in a statement that impoundment is "the secret weapon" to reducing "the bloated federal bureaucracy while still doing everything America needs and more."
He added, "This constitutional power of the President should never have been curtailed, but I will get it back and will use it to stop inflation and bring federal spending under control."
"President Trump will take bold action to root out fraud, waste, and abuse when he returns to the White House," the Trump campaign wrote to Newsmax in a statement Thursday night. "There are hundreds of billions of dollars in efficiencies and savings we can squeeze out of the bloated federal bureaucracy while still doing everything America needs and more.
"The president must have the ability to get it done, and the Impoundment Power is the secret weapon. President Trump will use this authority to stop inflation, dismantle the Deep State, and put a robust check on federal spending."
Newsmax writer Eric Mack contributed to this report.
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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