A widening trust gap between Congress and the White House is coming to a head over budget director Russell Vought, who has spent his tenure testing the limits of executive control over federal spending — and is now facing pushback even from Republicans.
Since returning to government service to lead the Office of Management and Budget last year, Vought has used nearly every tool available to restrict the flow of federal dollars, from implementing DOGE's unilateral spending cuts and mass firings to arguing the president can impound congressionally appropriated funds despite the Impoundment Control Act's explicit prohibition, wrote MS NOW's Hayes Brown.
When lawmakers pushed back last summer, OMB sent a rescissions package that Congress approved, cutting $8 billion in foreign aid and roughly $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Unsatisfied, Vought later executed a "pocket rescission," notifying Congress of a $4.9 billion foreign aid cut less than 45 days before the fiscal year's end so the money would lapse automatically.
Vought has since expanded his reach further, using the apportionment process to force spending to match Trump's rejected budget proposals, withholding funds from projects in Democratic-led states, and pursuing a new federal rule that would let his office effectively veto grants that don't "demonstrably advance the president's policy priorities" — even those meeting Congress's own guidelines.
The backlash has grown louder. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Vought directly that he lacks authority to impound appropriated funds, while Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) accused him of undermining the very branch that "delivered on all of the administration's" priorities.
The Senate's short-term funding bill to keep the government open through December includes a temporary halt to Vought's takeover of federal grants. The House still must pass it, but the measure appears likely to reach Trump's desk and avert a shutdown before the midterms.
"It’s a very welcome, if belated development from a body that has been content to see its prerogatives siphoned away over the years," Brown wrote. "Thankfully, it appears this is one area where the legislative branch seems determined to uphold its supremacy."