What you need to know about impoundment, and how Trump vows to use it

The brewing showdown is over a centuries-old process called “impoundment” in which the president doesn’t allow congressionally appropriated funds to be spent.

At the heart of this legal battle is a key question of American democracy: whether, under the U.S. Constitution , the president has more spending authority than either Congress or the Supreme Court has ever permitted.

A rescission, however, is an agenda-related funding freeze.

It's for when Congress appropriates money that, for policy reasons, the president does not want spent.

The president can also propose rescissions to budgets that aren’t through the ICA .

There’s no evidence that the Trump administration sent an official letter to Congress .

The president ran on the notion that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional. I agree with that,” Vought said. Vought alluded to the president and Department of Justice planning to legally review “the parameters of the law with regard to the Impoundment Control Act ,” but Trump ’s pick for OMB director has not outright said the administration hopes to contest it in federal court. Support Provided By: Learn more.