Congress Moves to Block OMB’s Bid to Control Federal Grants

Overview

• The latest development is that the Senate added a temporary prohibition on OMB’s asserted authority over federal grants to a short-term funding bill that still must be passed by the House to become law.
• OMB director Russell Vought has used rescissions, a late “pocket rescission,” and tightened apportionment to withhold or redirect funds that Congress appropriated, including cuts of roughly $8 billion in foreign aid, about $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and a $4.9 billion pocket rescission.
• Lawmakers from both parties have pushed back on Vought’s tactics, with Sen. Chuck Grassley telling him he lacks authority to impound appropriated money and Rep. Mark Amodei sharply criticizing the use of pocket rescissions.
• Key budget tools at the center of the fight are the Impoundment Control Act, which generally bans the executive from unilaterally keeping approved funds from being spent, and rescissions and apportionment rules that govern how and when Congress’s appropriations are returned or timed.
• If the House approves the stopgap, it will pause OMB’s proposed grant rule and ease immediate pressure on programs and recipients that have faced halted awards, but longer legal and political battles over the executive’s control of spending are likely to continue.