New York State Democratic lawmakers have proposed a bill that would allow the state to hold on to money owed to the federal government, in an effort to defend against budget gaps caused by Trump’s withholding of federal funds.
The bill’s sponsor in the State Senate, Jessica Ramos, framed the issue as a showdown with the president. “This bill is about Democrats bringing a gun to a gunfight and about us doing what our charter lays out, which is our responsibility to protect New Yorkers,” she said. “As legislators, what we’re looking to do is ensure that there is no lapse in services to our most vulnerable population.”
The “reciprocal enforcement of claims on unpaid or reduced state entitlements act,” or the “RECOURSE act,” would allow the state to withhold funds owed to the federal government equal to what the latter is withholding from the state “as a result of the federal government’s nonpayment in contravention of a court decision,” according to the New York State Senate website.
A similar bill is being considered in Maryland, with its sponsor, Del. David Moon, saying the state is ”preparing for the possibility of the federal government acting as a deadbeat debtor.” Another bill in the “Free State” threatens to put liens on federal property in the state until it is able to “resolve the payment obligations from the federal government.”
President Donald Trump has already withheld substantial funds from both the city and the state of New York since taking office less than three months ago. In February, the Trump administration clawed back $80 million in FEMA funds paid to New York City for housing migrants. Earlier this month, New York joined 22 other states in suing the Trump administration over $11 billion in public health grants being cut. The Empire State was supposed to receive nearly $400 million from that pool for public health, mental health, and addiction initiatives.
The Trump administration’s deep cuts across government agencies and institutions appear to fly in the face of well-established legal precedent. The last time that a president attempted impoundment – a technical term for the executive branch refusing to disburse funds allocated by Congress, as the Trump administration is currently doing – was Richard Nixon, a maneuver famously resulted in a Supreme Court ruling shutting him down in 1973, as well as the passage of the Impoundment Control Act by Congress in 1974, which codified into statute the standard set forth in Article I of the Constitution.
