"In the United States Constitution, Congress is granted the power of the purse: the right to decide how much to spend and on what. Also, importantly, it gets to decide when to remove funding. In the 70s, that was used to pull funding from the Vietnam War. That power does not belong with the Executive Branch, which the Constitution says must "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.""
"Unfortunately, the Founders likely never imagined people like House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) or Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who have been willing to roll over and allow Trump to usurp their power, in violation of the basic concepts behind the checks and balances built into the Constitution. Trump has been doing plenty of ruling by threatening public funding. But the Trump administration's new plan to block gender-affirming care for trans youth is possibly the most egregious example so far."
HHS announced a plan to block gender-affirming care for trans youth, demonstrating executive leverage of public funding to shape policy. The Constitution grants Congress the power of the purse to decide spending, allocations, and when to withdraw funding, a power used in the 1970s to end Vietnam War funding. Current congressional leaders have allowed executive control over funding decisions, enabling presidential threats with public funds. The 2026 midterm elections will influence whether Congress reasserts its constitutional funding authority or continues to cede power, affecting federal policy and civil rights in the coming years.
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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