[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 82 (Thursday, May 15, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H2063]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 POCCA

  (Mr. Liccardo of California was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. LICCARDO. Mr. Speaker, you remember this friendly and famous 
fellow, Bill, as in: I am just a bill here on Capitol Hill.
  I go back to ``Schoolhouse Rock!'' because I think the President 
needs a civics lesson that the rest of us received as kids watching 
Saturday morning cartoons with our mouths full of Corn Flakes.
  Today, I am proud to join Representatives  Dave Min and Eugene 
Vindman and 30 cosponsors in introducing the Protect Our Constitution 
and Communities Act. It is just a bill on Capitol Hill, but it offers 
an opportunity to Congress to restore the rule of law against President 
Trump's unconstitutional highjacking of Federal spending.
  As we all learned in school, two separate provisions of Article I of 
our Constitution allocate what is known as the power of the purse to 
Congress. As articulated by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton in the 
Federalist Papers, our Founders made the spending power the bedrock of 
the Constitution's allocation of powers in our government. They sought 
to ensure that the expenditure of the people's money would remain in 
that body that is closest to the people.
  No longer. Under the dodgy dictatorship of DOGE, we have seen the 
unconstitutional and haphazard seizure of billions of Federal dollars 
critically needed in communities throughout our country for everything 
from food safety inspections to healthcare for veterans. Although DOGE 
has failed to meet any of Elon Musk's overblown claims for saving 
taxpayer dollars, DOGE has done a superb job of creating chaos.
  With cuts of thousands of employees in the SSA, for example, the 
website that millions of Social Security recipients depend upon for 
services and information has crashed four times in only 10 days. We 
have seen shutdowns of critical health research. Tens of thousands of 
renters will be unable to pay their summer utility bills, and thousands 
more parents will be stranded without Head Start childcare.
  All of this is in violation of our Federal appropriations laws, laws 
that this Congress passed and the President signed, a far cry from the 
constitutional imperative that the President ``shall take care that the 
laws be faithfully executed,'' so says Article II.
  If the President wants to spend differently than the law dictates, 
the Constitution provides him with a couple of options.
  First, he can introduce a bill, and he can ask Congress to change its 
spending priorities. It shouldn't be hard to persuade this Congress 
because our Republican majorities in both Houses have been unable to 
muster the courage to oppose other Trumpian blunders, whether they are 
tariffs that burden families with higher grocery bills or the 
deprivation of millions of Americans without healthcare coverage or the 
kleptocratic meme coin schemes to enrich the Trump family by more than 
$200 million. President Trump can simply ask Congress to pass a bill 
here on Capitol Hill.
  Another option is provided through a 1974 law, the Impoundment 
Control Act, or ICA. Under the ICA, the President can notify Congress 
when he intends to withhold or impound funds through either deferral or 
rescission. The law requires the President to provide Congress and the 
public with the reason for the impoundment, along with the estimated 
impacts on our communities.
  The Presidents, throughout the history since the passage of the ICA 
in 1974, have followed the law providing notice to Congress on 243 
occasions since it was enacted; that is, until President Trump took 
office this January. Instead, Donald Trump and DOGE have haphazardly 
frozen, blocked, and unlawfully impounded funds.
  Now, President Trump may have told a reporter 2 weeks ago that he 
does not know if he has an obligation to follow the Constitution. He 
actually took an oath to do just that only 115 days ago.
  POCCA, Protect Our Constitution and Communities Act, will hold him 
accountable for doing so. It will empower American States, cities, and 
individuals to fight back when they are harmed by the executive 
branch's unlawful impoundment of funds. By giving Americans a right of 
action to seek injunctions or damages, POCCA gives the ICA and Article 
I of our Constitution real teeth. By waiving qualified immunity, it 
would make Elon Musk and any other administration officials who 
willfully break the law personally liable.
  Mr. Speaker, our Constitution is not negotiable.

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