The Power of the Purse: Impoundment, Defunding, and Enforcement
Key takeaways
- The Constitution says no money may be drawn from the Treasury except under appropriations made by law, giving Congress the power of the purse.
- Under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, a President who wants to cancel funds must ask Congress, which has 45 days to approve a rescission.
- Congress approved a 9 billion dollar rescission in July 2025, the first in decades, and the President used pocket rescissions in 2025 and 2026, which GAO calls unlawful.
- Presidents have broad discretion over how to enforce laws, but most scholars say they may not refuse to enforce a law simply because they disagree with it.
- Congress can cut an agency's money or abolish it by law. Whether a President can effectively close an agency Congress created and funded is being fought in court.
- Many of these disputes were decided on emergency appeals at the Supreme Court rather than in full rulings.
The framers gave Congress control of federal money as its main check on the executive. Congress decides how much to spend and on what, and the President must carry out the laws, including spending laws. For most of modern history the main fights were over how much to spend. Since 2025 the central fight has been whether a President must spend what Congress provides.
This guide explains the constitutional rules, the 1974 impoundment law, rescissions and pocket rescissions, the President's discretion in enforcing laws, and how the courts and the Government Accountability Office have responded.
The President must take care that the laws be faithfully executed, but no administration can pursue every violation, and courts have long allowed prosecutors and agencies to set priorities. In 1985 the Supreme Court held that decisions not to enforce are generally beyond judicial review. Presidents of both parties have used that discretion broadly, from deferring deportations of people brought to the country as children to deprioritizing marijuana cases and, in 2025, delaying enforcement of the law requiring TikTok's sale. Most scholars say a President may set priorities but may not announce that a law will never be enforced, which would amount to a suspending power the framers rejected.
Presidents have long delayed some spending, but when Richard Nixon impounded billions of dollars for programs he opposed, Congress passed the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. A President who wants to cancel funds must send Congress a rescission request and may withhold the money for 45 days of session, and must release it if Congress does not approve. Deferrals are allowed only for limited reasons, not policy disagreement. The Government Accountability Office monitors compliance and can sue to force spending. In 1975 the Supreme Court ordered Nixon's administration to release water pollution funds, and in 1998 it struck down the line-item veto Congress had given the President.
In July 2025 Congress approved a 9 billion dollar rescission of foreign aid and public broadcasting funds, the first enacted rescission request in decades, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting later dissolved. On August 29, 2025, the President sent a pocket rescission, a request for about 4.9 billion dollars in foreign aid timed so the money would expire before Congress could act, and in September 2025 the Supreme Court allowed the funds to lapse while litigation continued. On September 25, 2026, the President sent a second pocket rescission of about 810 million dollars, mostly for refugee assistance. GAO says pocket rescissions are unlawful, while the Office of Management and Budget says the law's text allows them.
Congress can abolish an agency by law, as it did with the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1995, or stop funding it, as with the Office of Technology Assessment that same year. A President's own authority to reorganize agencies lapsed in 1984. In 2025 the administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development and folded its remaining work into the State Department, moved Education Department programs to other agencies, cut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and removed the leadership of the U.S. Institute of Peace. Courts reached different results, and the Supreme Court allowed some layoffs to proceed on emergency appeals. Supporters said the President controls the executive branch, while critics said only Congress can close what Congress created.
Article I says that no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law, and gives Congress the power to tax and spend. James Madison called the power over the purse the most complete and effectual weapon a representative body could have. Congress funds the government through twelve annual appropriations bills and other laws, and the Antideficiency Act forbids officials to spend money that has not been appropriated or to spend it for other purposes. A President can veto spending bills and propose a budget, but once a bill becomes law, the money is meant to be spent as Congress directed.
GAO issued several decisions in 2025 and 2026 finding that withholdings violated the Impoundment Control Act, but it has rarely sued, and courts have struggled with who has standing to challenge withheld funds. Many cases reached the Supreme Court on its emergency docket, where the administration often won temporary relief without a full ruling on the merits. Congress's main tools are writing tighter spending laws, attaching conditions to funding, using deadlines and shutdowns as leverage, and passing new laws. Supporters of a strong presidency say the Impoundment Control Act itself may be unconstitutional and that Presidents should be able to refuse wasteful spending, while defenders of Congress say the power of the purse is meaningless if money can be withheld at will.
See the yearly process in how the federal budget works, the wider struggle in checks and balances in action, or the President's side in presidential powers explained.