The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, signed into law by Warren G. Harding, required the president for the first time in U. S. history to submit a budget to the Congress. It does not ever appear to have been challenged in the courts despite what appear to me to be serious separation of powers issues.
Or, said another way, we may be heading into a constitutional crisis. If so, I predict it will neither be the first nor the last in this administration.
Hell, it’s not like Congress passes budgets these days, I don’t see why the President should bother submitting one.
Presidents routinely ignore the War Powers Act on constitutional grounds, so, imagine this will keep the usual folks hyperventilating to no effect. However, Trump should beware the high probability Obama will slip things in his budget (hmm.. revenue from a hotel tax?) to stoke hyperventilation even more.
I’m not familiar with that law, but from the wikipedia description, it seems that the important part is providing Congress with an audit of how the executive is spending money. Without that Congress cannot perform oversight or decide on a budget, whether the POTUS proposes one or not.
But as to the budget part: What if the POTUS sends Congress a photocopy of his middle finger extended with the word “Budget” handwritten across the top of the page? Is it a budget? Is it much different than a budget submitted to Congress that legislators declare is “dead on arrival”? Sounds like a political question, not one for the courts.
My point about the constitutional crisis is that other than impeachment Congress has no way to enforce such a law. Jackson pointed that out in 1832 (“Mr. Marshall has made his decision, etc.”)
Not surprising at all. Everything is a negotiation for Trump, there’s no way he would signal his desired end state ahead of time. There’s really no upside here.
Not that it matters much. The WH budget is only about signalling – Congress largely ignores it and passes what they want to pass – at least on the increasingly rare years where there are actually annual appropriations.