All Presidents Test the Limits of Their Authority. Trump Is Doing Something Far More Radical.

Every president tests the limits of their authority. Yet no opening presidential bid for power compares to President Donald Trump’s out-of-the-blue freeze of federal funds across the government.

Much about the initial memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which has since been rescinded, was unclear — including the scope or duration of the “temporary” pause on “all federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities.” Most importantly, the memo identified no source of constitutional or legislative authority for the president to pause any, let alone all, domestic grant programs.