Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts radio news Two.
Weeks into his presidency,
Donald Trump has shown
that he has every intention to rewrite the way the federal government spends its money.
The White House Budget Office has ordered all federal agencies to cease any financial assistance
if they believe the program might conflict with President Trump's executive orders.
Like last week, we saw the dramatic freezing and then unfreezing of all federal loans and grants.
We're getting word that the White House has now rescinded that freeze on federal loans grants.
Then over the weekend came the news that staff from Elon Musk's Doge had gained access to critical federal payment systems.
And this is essentially the government's checkbook,
and this is the system that issues the cash to contractors and vendors.
Bloomberg's Gregory Cordy has been reporting on Musk,
Doge and the larger Trump effort to put the presidency,
instead of Congress, at the center of federal spending.
If the president can withhold spending,
it would really give him unfettered control over everything that the executive branch does.
He could really unilaterally just shrink the size of the government with a stroke of a pen.
I'm Saleh Mohsen, and this is the big take D.C. from Bloomberg News.
Today on the show Inside Trump's attempts to slash government spending and the questions they raise about what a president can and can't do with money that Congress has approved.
First, Gregory, just lay out the basics for us.