Myth- The President can abolish the IRS?

Myth- The President can abolish the IRS?

Matthew Jones (Political Science Instructor) gives expert video advice on: Myth- The President controls the US budget?; Myth- The President can abolish the IRS?; Myth- The President is responsible for the economy? and more...

No. The President cannot do these radical actions like abolishing the IRS all on his own. If the President wants any one of his priorities funded, he has to go to Congress. And Congress can just say, "No, we're not going to fund that." So, if the President wants funding for rape victim prevention or rape victim counseling, Congress can say, "Nope, not going to fund it." And so the President technically can say, "I'm the head of the bureaucracy. The IRS is part of our bureaucracy. I'm just going to try and abolish the IRS that way." However, the House, the Congress, can then say, "You do that and we're going to impose penalties on you by not funding any of your other priorities." So this is the power relationship, the competition and power relationship between the two. The President cannot make any extreme decisions all on his own.