The Trump administration improperly withheld funds under a $5 billion federal infrastructure program, according to a nonpartisan, independent government watchdog, which concluded on Thursday that officials had violated the law by refusing to spend money on electric vehicle charging stations as authorized by Congress.
The findings appeared to inch the government closer to a high-stakes constitutional showdown, as President Trump increasingly looks to claim expansive powers over the nation’s purse strings as part of his reorganization of American government.
The allegations arise from Mr. Trump’s first days in office, when he and his administration raced to arrest vast swaths of the federal budget seen as incompatible with his political beliefs.
One of the president’s targets was the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, a roughly $5 billion tranche of money enacted as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021 to create a national network of charging stations. Mr. Trump and his allies had long denounced that money as wasteful, and the Transportation Department froze the program’s continued funding in February.
Reviewing that action, the Government Accountability Office determined on Thursday that the funding halt had amounted to an improper impoundment, since the administration had defied Congress and denied money to states that the federal government had previously approved. The government “must continue to carry out the statutory requirements of the program,” the office said.
Impoundments are restricted under a 1970s law that also empowers the accountability office to monitor — and, potentially, to go to court — to force the release of frozen money. The Government Accountability Office is a nonpartisan arm of Congress with a vast remit, including the responsibility to monitor the nation’s spending.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Transportation Department also did not respond to a request for comment.
Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, said in a statement this month that the electric-vehicle program had suffered from “inefficient guidance and failed performance,” stressing that his agency had broad latitude to pause funding for further review. In response, California and other states have separately sued the Trump administration.
Late last month, Gene L. Dodaro, the comptroller-general who leads the accountability office, revealed that it had opened more than three dozen related investigations into the Trump administration, underscoring the extent to which the president and his aides may have interfered with the flow of federal dollars.
The oversight body found similar violations of the law during Mr. Trump’s first term. It notably ruled in 2020 that the administration had illegally impounded roughly $400 billion in congressionally authorized aid to Ukraine, though the president denied any wrongdoing. The report ultimately informed congressional Democrats’ efforts to impeach the president.
This time, the Government Accountability Office report may portend a high-stakes legal showdown with Mr. Trump over the future of federal spending powers. The president and his top budget aide, Russell T. Vought, maintain that the White House should be able to ignore some congressional instructions on spending, even though the Constitution affords those powers to the legislative branch.
The two men have also declared that they believe the law limiting impoundment is unconstitutional, signaling a desire to prompt a court challenge that might ultimately invalidate it. But they have still forged ahead with their agenda in the meantime, moving to fire droves of federal workers and shutter offices and agencies that they believe to be wasteful.
The Trump administration has conducted that project in parallel with the Department of Government Efficiency, the team of young aides led by the tech billionaire Elon Musk. Officials affiliated with that entity tried to investigate the Government Accountability Office this month, though officials there turned them away, claiming they had no authority to scrutinize an independent arm of the legislative branch.
Congress enacted limits on presidential impoundment in 1974, reflecting lawmakers’ deep misgivings with the way President Richard M. Nixon halted entire categories of funding he disfavored. The law still allows the White House to temporarily pause spending, using a process known as rescission, though the money is restored unless Congress votes to claw it back.
But Mr. Trump and Mr. Vought have sought to push the bounds of executive power to achieve the president’s agenda. During his confirmation hearing to serve as White House budget director, Mr. Vought told a panel of senators that the administration would work with the Justice Department to “explore the parameters of the law.”
Tony Romm is a reporter covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The Times, based in Washington.
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