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A couple of thoughts on reprogramming authorities, since POTUS seems likely to try to use existing appropriations to end-run Congress on the wall 1/x
1) The big, obvious pot of money is at the Pentagon. The annual defense appropriations bill has a provision allowing the SecDef to transfer a total of $4B out of and into programs if he declares it’s in the “national interest.” 2/x
However, the secretary cannot do that if Congress has denied funding for the project he wants to fund. Would turning down Trump’s specific request constitute a denial? That’s a legal question. 3/x
There’s also a notification provision. SecDef has to notify Congress, which has traditionally meant getting sign off from top appropriators. That’s protocol, but the law appears to require just a heads-up rather than seeking permission. 4/x
One big question is whether budget officials at DOD are willing to risk signing checks to execute these transfers if there’s a question of drawing from the Treasury in violation of the law. That is, if it turns out a transfer order was illegal, do they want to be on the hook? 5/x
2) The other areas of the budget being looked at are problematic for a variety of reasons. I know less about the disaster aid money restrictions, but there’s at least a huge political complication in that you’re taking away cash from disaster-struck parts of the country 6/x
We’ve seen that in the pushback Trump has gotten from Cornyn on taking Hurricane Harvey money. 7/x
The final piece that hasn’t gotten much attention is the idea that projects will he added to or subtracted from the list of Army Corps of Engineers priority list. 8/x
There may be no more carefully negotiated set of approps than those directing the Corps’ project list. It’s a political minefield to pull money from projects currently funded, and it may also create legal problems because of the specific way in which Corps money is directed. 9/9
