Trump's military pay move puts Congress in the back seat on spending

It’s been a year full of money grabs by an executive branch that puts less weight on Congress’ “power of the purse” than any since the Nixon administration.

But President Donald Trump’s latest budget maneuver — paying military salaries out of unrelated research funding — has so openly flouted federal law as to make lawmakers’ appropriations authority, and Congress itself, practically irrelevant, critics argue.

“President Trump has been ignoring Congress’ authority to say which funds should be spent since the early days of this administration. He is now increasingly disregarding the requirement of an appropriation before spending money,” said David Super, a Georgetown Law professor and expert in federal budget law.

“This renders the appropriations process essentially meaningless if the p