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| Elon Musk Wields Chain Saw at Recent CPAC Conference/Reuters |
The argument we most often hear from Trump supporters and his Republican congress is that the President should have the authority to make whatever changes necessary to cut fraud and waste of the agencies under his executive branch of government The argument sounds plausible, even practical, and lots of Trump supporters have been callously cheering Elon Musk as he takes an axe to the executive branch.
Elon Musk paraded around with a chainsaw at the CPAC Convention, an image that reinforces his slash and burn policy of gutting agencies that provide assistance to the poor, the young, and the elderly here and abroad. His I dare you to stop me attitude resonates poorly with many citizens, but is President Trump and by extension Elon Musk and his DOGE violating Federal Law?
The answer is YES, YES, and YES again if the DOGE Checks Elon Musk has promised every U.S. citizen are mailed out- those checks also violate Federal Law and by accepting those checks each of us would be complicit in that violation and could be required by Court Order to pay it back. Here is why:
The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 has been amended several times, as recently as December of 2024. Not long after being sworn in, President Trump, created DOGE for Elon Musk who then gutted several Federal Agencies, including USAID and fired thousands of USAID employees, and USAID falls under the jurisdiction of The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended.
While the Act of 1961, as amended does provide the President with wide authority on funding hundreds of specific programs stated within the law, from on how to fund those programs to the authority to transfer funding to other programs authorized under the Act. But the law prohibits the President from removing that money that has been appropriated by Congress without proper Notice and without Justification (highlights/underline are my emphasis).
SEC. 634A. ø22 U.S.C. 2394–1¿ NOTIFICATION OF PROGRAM CHANGES.—(a) None of the funds appropriated to carry out the purposes of this Act (except for programs under title III or title IV of chapter 2 of part I, chapter 5 of part I, and programs of disaster relief and rehabilitation) or the Arms Export Control Act may be obligated for any activities, programs, projects, types of material assistance, countries, or other operations not justified, or in excess of the amount justified, to the Congress for obligation under this Act or the Arms Export Control Act for any fiscal year unless the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Appropriations of each House of the Congress are notified fifteen days in advance of such obligation. Whenever a proposed reprogramming exceeds $1,000,000 and the total amount proposed for obligation for a country under this Act in a fiscal year exceeds by more than $5,000,000 the amount specified for that country in the report required by section 653(a) of this Act, notifications of such proposed reprogrammings shall specify— (1) the nature and purpose of such proposed obligation, and (2) to the extent possible at the time of the proposed obligation, the country for which such funds would otherwise have been obligated. (b) The notification requirement of this section does not apply to the reprogramming— (1) of funds to be used for an activity, program, or project under chapter 1 of part I if the amounts to be obligated for that activity, program, or project for that fiscal year do not exceed by more than 10 percent the amount justified to the Congress for that activity, program, or project for that fiscal year;
President Trump and Elon Musk failed to provide timely notice to Congress in violation of the Act.
While notification under Section 634A is a violation, it is Section 643 that identifies the true depth Administration's violation of this Act. Under Section 643 Savings Provisions, Federal law clearly states,
Acts not named in that subsection. SEC. 643. ø22 U.S.C. 2402¿ SAVING PROVISIONS.—(a) Except as may be expressly provided to the contrary in this Act, all determinations, authorizations, regulations, orders, contracts, agreements, and other actions issued, undertaken, or entered into under authority of any provision of law repealed by section 642(a) and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1969 shall continue in full force and effect until modified by appropriate authority. (b) Wherever provisions of this Act establish conditions which must be complied with before use may be made of authority contained in, or funds authorized by, this Act, compliance with, or satisfaction of, substantially similar conditions under Acts listed in section 642(a) and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1969 or Acts repealed by those Acts shall be deemed to constitute compliance with the conditions established by this Act. (c) Funds made available pursuant to provisions of law repealed by section 642(a)(2) and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1969 shall, unless otherwise authorized or provided by law, remain available for their original purposes in accordance with the provisions of law originally applicable thereto, or in accordance with the provisions of law currently applicable to those purposes.
The Trump/Musk team violated Section 643A (a)(c) with an unauthorized removal of funds that was appropriated by Congress. The Trump Administration will violate the law further if they send DOGE checks to every U.S. Citizen. The funding they stripped from these programs, according to the Act, must be used for purposes in accordance with the provision of the law that the funds were originally proposed for or the current law in place for the proposed use.
If we accept DOGE checks from Elon Musk, we are may also be violating the Act, since we are not using the funds in accordance with the Act. Each citizen that accepts the money may have to pay it back, with interest. I doubt that would actually happen but who knows, anything is possible in this insane environment where the President violates the Federal law he was elected to enforce.
SourceThe Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, As Amended
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