The Power of the Purse III: Shifts in Power within the Executive Branch

As I explained last week, President Trump has been systematically wresting away from Congress large parts of the Power of the Purse – the power to say what revenues will and will not be collected and what funds will and will not be spent. His unlawful settlements of lawsuits with himself, paid with public funds, is but a small part of this. Yesterday I discussed how the President’s expanded fiscal powers have affected Congress’s internal organization in a way likely to permanently reduce its capacity for negotiation and compromise. Today I explore how the Power of the Purse’s shift between the branches of the federal government has been accompanied by important shift in power within the Executive Branch. In particular, power has been further concentrated within the White House complex at the expense of the departments and agencies and has been shifted from attorneys to political operatives. The effect of these changes, like that of moving fiscal power from Congress to the President,…