When President Trump said on Wednesday that his order to freeze federal spending was about “scams, dishonesty, waste and abuse,” he was echoing promises made by his predecessors in both parties.
Yes, the memo was a sweeping attempt to remake what he calls a “woke” government in his image. Yes, it was part of his retribution agenda to purge the “deep state” of his perceived enemies. And yes, it was an assertion of presidential power that threatened to undermine a core congressional authority — the power to direct federal spending.
But beneath all that, it was also one of the most far-reaching attempts to somehow reverse the seemingly inexorable growth of the federal government, an issue that resonates with some Democrats as well as most Republicans.
Mr. Trump’s order was blocked by a federal judge, but the chaos and confusion it caused may make it even harder to achieve his desired goal. Democrats now appear energized to oppose any effort by the president to slash programs, and government unions have issued new statements vowing to protect their workers from cuts. Organizations that receive federal money are now worried and wary.
But there is no indication that Mr. Trump is likely to give up. In a social media post on Wednesday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, referred to a series of executive orders signed by Mr. Trump, saying that “the President’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
If that is the case, Mr. Trump will be continuing a mostly-failed effort by a long series of presidents and Congress. As measured by the numbers of people it employs, the federal bureaucracy increased by about 12 percent between 1984 (when Ronald Reagan was president) and 2020 (near the end of Mr. Trump’s first term), according to data compiled by the Brookings Institution. During that period, the population of the United States grew faster, by around 45 percent.
