WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to allow the government to withhold $4 billion of spending on foreign aid that was approved by Congress.
The move came in response to a federal judge's ruling last week that requires the administration to spend the funds despite President Donald Trump notifying Congress that he intends not to.
The case marks a showdown over to what extent the president can refuse to spend money that Congress has appropriated, a brewing issue as Trump has embraced a sweeping view of presidential power since taking office again in January.
In the new filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer described the case as raising “a grave and urgent threat” to the power of the presidency.
Under the Constitution, it is the job of Congress to allocate funds that the president can spend.
Current federal funding expires on Sept. 30. The Trump administration has said it wants to withhold $4 billion in foreign aid, but will spend another $6.5 billion that Congress appropriated.
The dispute involves a law called the Impoundment Control Act, which was passed in 1974 to regulate the president’s control over the budget. That followed efforts by then-President Richard Nixon to withhold spending on programs he did not support.
Washington-based U.S. District Judge Amir Ali has been at the center of the complicated litigation, which has raged for months as the Trump administration has dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The underlying lawsuit was brought by various groups that receive foreign-aid funding, led by the Global Health Council.
Prior to the current administration, USAID spent billions every year on programs in developing countries addressing such issues as malaria and AIDs prevention and improving access to water.
In his ruling last week, Ali said the government must spend the money unless Congress votes to approve Trump's request.
But in Monday's filing, Sauer said that Ali's order imposes impossible burdens on the administration.
"To have any hope of complying in time, the executive branch would have to immediately commence diplomatic discussions with foreign nations about the use of those funds — discussions the President considers counterproductive to foreign policy — and notify Congress about planned obligations that the President is strongly opposing," he added.
In a filing in response, the plaintiffs urged the court not to immediately block Ali's ruling, saying it merely requires the government to make plans to spend the money by the end of the month. If Congress approves Trump's request, the money would not have to be spent, they added.
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to block Ali's decision, prompting the Trump administration to turn to the Supreme Court.
The Trump administration filing is the 25th emergency request from the government since January, as courts have pushed back against broad assertions of presidential authority. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has granted 17 of the requests.
