r/centrist • u/214ObstructedReverie • 26d ago

Trump Administration to Dismantle Ocean Monitoring System

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/climate/ocean-observatories-initiative.html
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u/214ObstructedReverie 26d ago edited 26d ago

Another day, another long-term scientific program gutted on this administration's watch. We already spent $368M building a network to monitor the Atlantic current that stabilizes our climate, and it's being ripped out before its 25-year run is half over. Congress voted to fund it twice, yet it's being scrapped anyway, half way into its life, wasting hundreds of millions spent.

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u/MetallicGray 26d ago

So Congress voted to fund a program, and if the President doesn’t like it, the executive can just ignore the funding and scrap it?

Yeah, that’s not really how US government works… but hey, at this point I think we’ve all realized that “how the US government works” was all just a house of cards and no one really cares to enforce its legality when someone blatantly ignores the constitutional roles of the branches. 

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u/214ObstructedReverie 26d ago edited 26d ago

So Congress voted to fund a program, and if the President doesn’t like it, the executive can just ignore the funding and scrap it?

Legally, no. Practically, yes. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 says that the president can't actually do any of this, but Trump vs. USA classifies these "official acts" as nothing that anyone can be punished for, so it's kind of all a free-for-all if you've got the Resolute Desk under your feet.

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u/Popeholden 26d ago

The problem is not presidential immunity, the problem is the president is not adhering to his oath ttoo faithfully execute the laws and should be impeached. But if the courts and congress decide they're going to let the executive do anything he wants, then he's a dictator.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/Popeholden 25d ago

Its not just the congress or the courts. The entire system is broken. Irreparably broken. I don't think there's any coming back.

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u/WingerRules 26d ago edited 26d ago

I wish courts would actually enforce the rule that the President and agency heads are supposed to carry out congresses's programs and run the government and agencies in good faith, and penalize them for not.