A Trump administration official found a way to quietly strangle federal programs by freezing congressionally approved spending, a legal expert warned.
In a Thursday piece for The Bulwark, economist Catherine Rampell called out the tactic used by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. She laid out how he's unilaterally withholding congressionally appropriated funds even though "his maneuvers are plainly illegal," Rampell wrote.
Vought's targets so far, Rampell wrote, include the Smithsonian, Community Development Financial Institutions, USAID, and medical research grants.
According to Rampell, Vought's strategy hinges on claiming that he's empowered by "obscure budgetary tools created in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, intended for different purposes, that have remained on the books." She pointed to legal experts who saw it the same way.
"He's throwing all sorts of other monkey wrenches in there, in particular saying, 'You can't spend this without prior approval from us,' and then not answering his phone — figuratively, anyway," said David A. Super, a Georgetown Law professor. "That's how he's whacked the Smithsonian and a bunch of other stuff he doesn't like."
Super explained that Vought's mechanism relies on manufacturing a pre-clearance requirement, then making clearance impossible by invoking the "obscure budgetary tools" that Rampell mentioned. "Unsurprisingly, the GOP-controlled Congress is not fighting back," Rampell wrote.
One such obscure tool is the "apportionment process," which was designed to stop the government from burning through its funds too quickly. Super and Cerin Lindgrensavage, a writer and legal expert, argued that Vought has inverted its purpose and is using it to force underspending, choking off funds the government is legally required to spend.
"Russ Vought cultivates this image as Dr. No and an absolutist and all that," Super said. "I think the reality is that he is willing to make just enough deals to have members decide it's in their interest to play ball."