Can the President lower military spending without congress?

[Yoddle]

SO lets say Congress passed an NDAA with 800Billion for the DoD spending. President then vetos b/c he thinks its too much, and Congress then overrides the veto.


What I'm wondering is, isn't the people in charge of the DoD and military spending appointed by the President?
Could the President have them only spend a portion of that money and return the rest to the Treasury?
Could the President do this with all spending for all departments?

[Zippyjuan]

Sorry- duplicate.

[Zippyjuan]

Only Congress can write spending legislation (with all spending bills originating in the House of Representatives) but the President, as far as I know, can refuse to release funds (assuming that Congress overrides his veto).

According to this book http://books.google.com/books?id=RL0qkP6ApLQC&pg=PA254&lpg=PA254&dq=president+refuses+to+release+funds&source=bl&ots=r6_Bkw8AQg&sig=7IMvTjmzAyfBPHsm5JQfMkuWeRg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aO0yT-6UDoLf0QHntMi_Bw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=president%20refuses%20to%20release%20funds&f=false he can only do that for up to 45 days though.