https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_the_purse#United_Stat...
In the federal government of the United States, the power of the purse is vested in the Congress as laid down in the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 (the Appropriations Clause) and Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 (the Taxing and Spending Clause).
The power of the purse plays a critical role in the relationship of the United States Congress and the President of the United States, and has been the main historic tool by which Congress has limited executive power.
https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/not-confident-trump-...
Not confident Trump will prevail: Scholar on his attempts to take Congress' power of the purse Professor Deborah Pearlstein joins Morning Joe to discuss her column for the NYT outlining some of Trump’s actions implemented in his first few days in office and why she says Trump is hardly the first president to claim broad executive power, but the difference is not just the enormity of his claims, it's that the administration mostly doesn't try to craft legal justifications for its actions.
https://www.marketplace.org/2025/02/04/congress-president-tr...
How Congress — and not the president — controls how taxpayer money is spent
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/01/trump-e...
‘It’s an Illegal Executive Order. And It’s Stealing.’
"The government can say we want to spend $1,000,000 on hammers but it doesn’t mean you have to spend $1,000,000 on one hammer."
This isn't the level of detail we are concerned with. Congress says that USAID gets $5 billion a year then the Executive branch HAS to transfer that money or else it is in direct violation of the US constitution. Your entire argument is nonsensical and irrelevant.
Yes they are
"They are literally cutting funds that were NOT explicitly approved by congress only."
This is false.
You really need to realize that Musk is a liar who lies all the time and he is lying about what DOGE is doing.
Also, a later act of Congress (The Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, 22 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.) established USAID as its own agency.[1]
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impoundment_of_appropriated_...
[1] https://www.justsecurity.org/107267/can-president-dissolve-u...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_the_purse#United_Stat...
In the federal government of the United States, the power of the purse is vested in the Congress as laid down in the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 (the Appropriations Clause) and Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 (the Taxing and Spending Clause).
The power of the purse plays a critical role in the relationship of the United States Congress and the President of the United States, and has been the main historic tool by which Congress has limited executive power.
https://www.marketplace.org/2025/02/04/congress-president-tr...
How Congress — and not the president — controls how taxpayer money is spent
That’s obviously arguable. Did the weapon and its usage cause more or fewer deaths and destruction than without it?
If you knew a country wanted to build a weapon to cripple your own country, and you had the necessary skills to build that weapon, would you feel come compulsion to try and build it first in order to protect your family and friends? To protect yourself?