MaddowBlog-White House announces radical new plan to allocate tariff revenue without Congress

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The Constitution gives Congress what’s known as the “power of the purse.” When Trump tries to claim he has his own purse, there’s a problem.

On the White House’s WIC plan, we’re not supposed to have a system in which a president can:

- impose his own tax without Congress

- create his own pile of money that Congress never approved

- allocate funds, at his discretion, to whichever cause he deems fit, without Congress

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-10-08T18:35:16.739Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-announces-radical-new-plan-allocate-tariff-revenue-congres-rcna236343

A day later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went a little further down the same path. Politico reported:

The Trump administration is planning to deploy millions of dollars in tariff revenue to tide over a critical nutrition program for low-income moms and babies during the ongoing government shutdown. ... The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children was expected to run out of federal funding later this week. While the program, which funds infant formula, fruits and vegetables, has dipped into contingency funds during previous shutdowns, states have never had to triage participants or turn them away.

It is certainly true that the program, generally known as WIC, is facing a budget shortfall. Now, evidently, Team Trump intends to address that shortfall by redirecting tariff revenue.

“It’s not clear exactly how much money the White House intends to spend, how the process will unfold or if it is legal,” Politico’s report added.

It’s the “or if it is legal” part of the sentence that stands out for me.....

The Appropriations Clause of the Constitution helps give lawmakers what’s known as the “power of the purse.” When Trump effectively responds, “I now have my own purse,” there’s a problem.

Am I saying that struggling WIC beneficiaries should simply go without? No. I’m saying that officials should follow the law and prevent an authoritarian president from treating Congress like a doormat (again) and moving around federal funds however he pleases.

[Bread and Circuses]

1. TACO will skim off money from any unlawful grab of US money . Again