Trump administration withholding $436.87 billion in approved spending, top Democrats say

Washington: US President Donald Trump's administration has so far withheld at least $436.87 billion of congressionally approved funding, the top Democrats on the US Congress' appropriation committees said on Tuesday.

The frozen allotments span the federal government, according to the first estimate of the potential impoundments in the project led by Senator Patty Murray from Washington and Representative Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut.

Almost $42 billion was frozen or canceled for the State Department, including the frozen support for USAID, along with another $62 billion-plus in competitive grant funding for the Transportation Department, according to the estimate.

The Democrats also detailed $943 million frozen for the Head Start early-education program and more than $10 billion in frozen and canceled funding for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

"Just 100 days into office, President Trump and Elon Musk are continuing their unprecedented assault on our nation's spending laws, and it is families, small businesses, and communities in every part of the country who are paying the price," Murray and DeLauro said in a statement.

"No American president has ever so flagrantly ignored our nation's spending laws or so brazenly denied the American people investments they are owed."

The White House and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

These findings will be publicly posted in a tracker tallying the minimum the committees believe the administration is freezing or fighting in court to block, a committee aide said.

The administration has cited Musk's Department of Government Efficiency and the undoing of the federal government's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as reasons for blocking congressionally approved funding.

The administration's refusal to spend congressionally authorized funds amounts to a challenge of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress oversight over spending, lawmakers said.

Trump challenged this idea on the campaign trail, as does the current head Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought. The U.S. Supreme Court also twice reaffirmed the limits on presidents' power to unilaterally cut spending.

Congress in the 1974 Impoundment Control Act codified a legal process for the executive branch to tweak spending levels by proposing cuts, called a rescission, which could be approved with a simple majority vote.

As of Monday, the administration has not submitted any rescission requests for Congress to codify, despite repeated requests from many congressional Republican lawmakers.