WATCH: Sen. Warner questions OMB chief about illegally withholding funding
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., questioned Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, about the agency’s withholding of Congressionally appropriated funding in a hearing Thursday held by the Senate Budget Committee.
“If Congress had appropriated money for housing on Mars, my belief is your job is to administer, not make that judgment,” Warner said. “It is our job to make the judgment.”
“Administer it well. That is also our job,” Vought responded.
Warner then said the Government Accountability Office found OMB has illegally impounded funds seven times, though Vought responded his office has “not impounded a single thing.”
Reports from the GAO have found at least seven agencies violated the Impoundment Control Act by withholding appropriated funds.
Vought, a key figure in the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce, also defended the president’s budget request in a House hearing Wednesday.
President Donald Trump’s funding wish list for fiscal year 2027 includes a staggering bump for defense spending — a nearly 50% increase to $1.5 trillion — to build his “dream military.”
The president’s budget request is not final, but it does signal the Trump administration’s priorities for the coming fiscal year. Though Trump has tried to exert more authority over spending in his second term, it’s up to both chambers to revise and approve the final budget in the coming months.
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