House Republicans, allies of President-elect Donald Trump, are pushing for him to tighten his control over Congress' annual government spending process next year.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) is introducing a bill Monday that would repeal a measure that would require the president to direct the federal government to spend all of its appropriations each year.
Clyde told Fox News Digital on Thursday that he plans to introduce the bill in the next Congress, when Republicans control the House, Senate and White House, and said the issue is already being discussed around Trump. .
“It certainly came up” when Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk visited Parliament House earlier this month to discuss the Department of Government Efficiency, Clyde said.
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Some Republicans want to give President-elect Donald Trump more say over Congressional spending procedures. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“They're buying into it because there's no way you can't be efficient and still cut spending. That's not possible.”
He also told a small group of reporters earlier this month that Russell Vought, the incoming Trump administration Office of Management and Budget director, was “very much in favor of this.”
The Seizure Control Act of 1974 was passed during the Nixon administration and was intended to prevent the president from having unilateral say over government spending.
Currently, the president must get approval from Congress to revoke funds appropriated for a particular year. The funds in question will be held for up to 45 days until your request is processed.
“I think the powers that the president exercises are very important,” Clyde said. “Ever since Congress introduced this law, we've seen spending literally go up and up, and that's never good for our country.”
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Congressman Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) is leading the charge to repeal the Seize Control Act. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
Clyde's bill would repeal the Detention Management Act. A corresponding bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).
Clyde said more than a dozen House Republicans also support his bill.
Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy called for Mr. Trump to seek greater defunding in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal last month after the president-elect named them to chair an advisory committee on reducing government waste. He insisted on being empowered.
The Georgia Republican acknowledged that the bill's chances of passing in the current Democratic-controlled Senate are long, with only a week left in the legislative term, but he said the bill would likely pass in the next Congress. “Without a doubt,” he said, he would introduce the bill.
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Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pennsylvania), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, opposes the idea. (Getty Images)
He described Monday's introduction as “like putting a flag on the ground and saying, 'Hey, this is a power that the president should be able to exercise without hindrance, and we're going to support it.'”
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However, the issue is likely to become a partisan conflict. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pennsylvania), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, responded to Musk and Ramaswamy's op-ed, calling their ideas “as foolish as they are dangerous.”
“Unilaterally cutting funding that has been legitimately appropriated by the people's elected representatives in Congress is a devastating power grab that harms our economy and puts families and communities at risk,” Boyle said in a statement. It will be,” he said.
