Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, speaks at a press briefing during President Trump’s first term, in 2019.
Evan Vucci/AP
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Evan Vucci/AP
The White House budget office on Friday rejected the conclusion of a nonpartisan congressional watchdog that said the Trump administration is breaking the law by not spending funds as directed by Congress.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on Thursday that said the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act by blocking spending on electric vehicle charging stations.
The $5 billion in funding was from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. Blocking the spending has put construction projects planned by states into limbo. The GAO said the Trump administration needed to go through a formal rescissions process — where Congress agrees to the cuts — in order to stop the spending, rather than unilaterally cutting it off.
Trump’s budget director Russ Vought on social media dismissed the GAO report — and other similar GAO investigations — saying they were “non-events with no consequence. Rearview mirror stuff.”
“They are going to call everything an impoundment because they want to grind our work to manage taxpayer dollars effectively to a halt,” Vought said.
The Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is the newest salvo in a fight about government spending
Under the Constitution, Congress has the power of the purse. After funding disputes with President Richard Nixon, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act in 1974 that requires presidents to spend money as Congress directs.
Trump said on the campaign trail that he would challenge that law — and Vought, who also led the Office of Management and Budget in Trump’s first term, has long championed this fight.
Vought has argued the 1974 law is unconstitutional. In Trump’s first term, he was involved in an effort to block aid to Ukraine — a move that Congress pushed back against, and which eventually led to Democrats’ first impeachment of Trump. On Friday, Vought accused the GAO of being partisan because of its role during that debate.
In Trump’s second term, the issue is expected to eventually head to the Supreme Court.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who is the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement that Trump is breaking the law by blocking the funding passed by Congress.
“I don’t care about Russ Vought’s personal interpretation of our spending laws; the Constitution is clear, and President Trump simply does not have the power of the purse — Congress does,” Murray said.
As of April, the GAO was looking into 39 other potential instances of impoundment under the Trump administration.
The impoundment act allows the head of the GAO to sue the president, if the agency concludes there has been a violation of the law. GAO hasn’t said it would, in this case.
A number of states have already sued the Trump administration over its pause of funds for electric vehicle charging.
