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Re:What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF by scarab92 on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @08:40AM (#42948327)
Budgets are a maximum permitted expenditure, not a minimum.

Trump is free to spend less than budgeted.

Re:What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF by thesuperbigfrog on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @09:17AM (#42948770)
>> Trump is free to spend less than budgeted.

Not without approval from Congress:

"The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 provides that the president may propose rescission of specific funds, but that rescission must be approved by both the House of Representatives and Senate within 45 days. In effect, the requirement removed the impoundment power, since Congress is not required to vote on the rescission and, in fact, has ignored the vast majority of presidential requests."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impoundment_of_appropriated_fu...

Re:What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF by sjsdaiuasgdia on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @09:00AM (#42948574)
Sounds like a legal theory that needs to be tested by the courts. The executive branch is not free to interpret the law in a vacuum.
Re:What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF by scarab92 on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @09:06AM (#42948640)
Agencies spend under budget all the time.

Budgets are an approval to spend up to a certain amount, not a requirement to spend a certain amount.

Re:What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF by sjsdaiuasgdia on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @09:23AM (#42948836)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impoundment_of_appropriated_fu...

We passed laws about that because of a previous Republican president who was also fond of executive overreach.

Re:What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF by desumeku on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @01:11PM (#42952693)
> 'The executive branch is not free to interpret the law in a vacuum.'

Exactly how else are you supposed to get this tested by the courts?

Re:What's Happening Inside the NIH and NSF by kristjansson on Wednesday February 05, 2025 @02:24PM (#42953739)
The executive cannot refuse to even try to execute duly authorized programs.