Spending Money Congress Approved — Week of Oct 13, 2025

During the week of October 13, 2025 — in the midst of a government shutdown — President Trump took two notable actions involving money that Congress had already approved for specific purposes. First, he signed a memorandum ordering the Department of War to redirect funds Congress had set aside for other military purposes to instead cover troop paychecks. Second, in remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One, he announced he was "stopping all payments to Colombia" — halting foreign aid that Congress had previously funded. Neither action appeared to follow the typical legal process — called rescission — that a president is normally required to use before withholding or redirecting money Congress has appropriated.

This might matter because Congress's control over federal spending is one of the most important checks on presidential power. If a president can redirect or freeze funds without going through Congress, it could undermine the constitutional principle that only the legislature decides how taxpayer money is spent — a protection that exists to prevent any single person from having unchecked control over the federal budget. On the Senate floor, Senator Chris Coons described a broader pattern of the administration refusing to spend appropriated funds, including the dissolution of USAID despite $32 billion in funding, saying it had "destroyed a lot of the trust" needed for Congress to function.

Alternative explanations to consider: Most plausibly, the decision to redirect funds for military pay was an emergency response to troops facing missed paychecks — a situation with real human consequences where presidents have historically stretched their authority. The Colombia aid freeze was announced informally and may yet be formalized through proper legal channels; it may also represent a diplomatic pressure tactic rather than a definitive policy shift, with the President's remarks intended to signal urgency. Both actions could be part of a strategy to pressure Congress toward a faster shutdown resolution rather than to establish lasting precedents. And Senator Coons's account, while detailed, reflects one party's perspective during a politically charged shutdown debate.

Still, taken together, these actions represent multiple instances in a single week where the executive branch appeared to move to control spending without following the process Congress established for exactly these situations.

Limitations: This analysis is based on only 18 publicly available documents and AI-assisted review — a small sample from which to draw firm conclusions. The legal questions surrounding presidential spending authority during a government shutdown are genuinely complex, and formal implementation may differ from public statements.