"The senior leader described the process like receiving money 'with an eyedropper.'
Without a pot of money to distribute out to various centers and divisions, the CDC couldn't send out the notice of awards that state and local health departments need to be able to do their work and know they will be reimbursed for it."
OFFICE OF Management and Budget #OMB IS BREAKING THE LAW AND HIDING MONEY FROM YOU
Tampa Free Press: Federal Judge Rules OMB Unlawfully Removed Site, Citing Congressional Mandate for Transparency. “A federal district court Monday ordered the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to reinstate a public online database detailing federal spending apportionments, ruling that the agency’s removal of the site in March 2025 was unlawful.”
…#States expected the #funding to be released on July 1, as normally happens. Instead, the *#Education* Dept notified states June 30 that the money was under review for compliance w/ #Trump’s *priorities*. The #OMB [#RussVought] said it was investigating whether any of the grant money had in the past been used for a “radical leftwing agenda.”
The admin ofcl said “guardrails” would be in place “to ensure these funds will not be used in violation of executive orders or admin policy.”
The expense comes as the CFPB's budget is slashed nearly in half. The dir of the WHs budget office wears mult hats, incl the temp head of the #CFPB.
OMB:
now billing CFPB $4.7M for Vought’s security detail.
AGT: “on a fast track,” despite the funding not being incl in CFPB’s fiscal 2025 budget. The $4.7M will cover Vought’s security through Dec -meaning it will draw from both fiscal years 2025 & 2026.
Egregious: his budget cuts will cause ppl to suffer/die.
#OMB #USPol https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/07/russ-vought-bills-cfpb-5m-his-security-detail/406928/
Lisa Gilbert, the co-president of Public Citizen, a #watchdog group, said that #Trump has proved “all too willing” to “do away with the watchdogs.” She said it had the effect of “making it harder to oversee the actions” of POTUS.
#RussVought has also sought to increase the budget of #OMB, describing such a move as a counterweight to congressional investigators. #Republicans ultimately delivered $100M in new #funding for Vought as part of the tax package Trump signed into #law earlier this month.
The scrutiny has enraged a WH focused on *cutting spending* that does not align w/Trump’s political views & priorities.
In a May letter to the #GAO, Mark #Paoletta, #OMB general counsel, described GAO’s requests as “voluminous, burdensome & inappropriately invasive.” He said the #Trump admin would stop cooperating in #impoundment investigations, claiming that its frequent requests for docs “undermine agency efforts to faithfully *implement* [subvert] the #law & the president’s priorities.”
In our lawsuit with Public Ctz, the judge just ruled that the #OMB must restore its website that shows how it is spending taxpayer
.
The judge had some strong words for OMB about the illegal removal of the site:
“There's nothing unCON about Congress requiring the Exec Branch to inform the public of how it is apportioning the public’s. Defendants are therefore required to stop violating the law!” The ct ordered OMB to restore the database & to make publicly av-.
#USPol https://www.citizensforethics.org/news/press-releases/court-orders-trump-administration-to-restore-public-federal-spending-database/
Trump Lickspittle Russ Vought Really Enjoying Kicking America In Its Dick
https://www.wonkette.com/p/trump-lickspittle-russ-vought-really
#Trump said as recently as Friday he won't fire #JeromePowell, but Hassett's comments appear to crack the door open again.
The admin has ramped up pressure on the #Fed over cost overruns for its HQ renovation project, which Hassett said on ABC's “This Week”was $700M over budget.
On Thurs, #OMB head #RussVought sent #JeromePowell a letter demanding answers to a series of questions about those overruns & project changes, & whether they complied with the #law.
#Privatizing #weather agencies has long been an aim of #Republicans. During #Trump’s first presidency, he signed a bill that utilized more private weather data. And #Project2025, a proposed blueprint for Trump’s 2nd presidency that was co-authored by #OMB director #RussVought, calls for #NOAA to be broken up & for the weather service to “fully commercialize its forecasting operations.”
Clarification from Rep. Raj Krishnamurthi (D-IL08):
We have to watch for cuts to #Medicare, not just #Medicaid, because, due to the impact of the #BigUglyBill on the deficit & the natl debt, it triggers sequestration.
____
What's sequestration?
Automatic spending cuts that occur through the withdrawal of funding for certain (but not all) govt programs. The necessity for it is #CBO's call, but the specific cuts are decided by Trump's #OMB.
Uh-oh. Legalized #DOGE.
#RussVought, the director of the White House #OMB, said during a #Senate #Appropriations Cmte hearing last week that the admin was considering ways to claw back the funding through a process known as rescission. The admin would formally ask lawmakers to claw back a set of funds it has targeted for cuts. Even if #Congress fails to vote on the request, #Trump’s timing would trigger a #law that freezes the money until it ultimately expires.
“No decision has been made,” Vought said.
#Health depts around the country have noticed there's something strange happening w/ #funding from the #CDC: It's not showing up on schedule & there's been no communication about why.
The federal #PublicHealth agency doles out most of the money it receives from #Congress to #state & #local health depts, which then contract w/local orgs. That's how public health work gets funded in the #US.
#Trump #OMB #RussVought #Project2025 #law #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/06/28/nx-s1-5442689/cdc-trump-layoffs-public-health-rescission
The recommendation from #RussVought’s #OMB, which has not been previously reported, is not the final decision to end the programs since it gives the #State Dept the option to appeal.
But it sets up a potential back-&-forth between the OMB & Secy of State #MarcoRubio and his aides, who will reply to OMB with their suggestions on which programs deserve to continue. The programs also include work in #Iraq, #Nepal, #SriLanka & the #Gambia.
#Maine joins 20 states to challenge #Trump administration funding cuts
by MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press
Wed, June 25th 2025
BOSTON (AP) — "Attorneys general from more than 20 states, including Maine, and #WashingtonDC filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging billions of dollars in funding cuts made by the Trump administration that would fund everything from crime prevention to #FoodSecurity to #ScientificResearch.
"The lawsuit filed in Boston is asking a judge to limit the Trump administration from relying on an obscure clause in the federal regulation to cut grants that don’t align with its priorities. Since January, the lawsuit argues that the administration has used that clause to cancel entire programs and thousands of grants that had been previously awarded to states and grantees.
" 'Defendants’ decision to invoke the Clause to terminate grants based on changed agency priorities is #unlawful several times over,' the plaintiffs argued. 'The rulemaking history of the Clause makes plain that the (Office of Management and Budget - #OMB) intended for the Clause to permit terminations in only limited circumstances and provides no support for a broad power to terminate grants on a whim based on newly identified agency priorities.'
"The lawsuit argues the Trump administration has used the clause for the basis of a 'slash-and-burn campaign' to cut federal grants.
" 'Defendants have terminated thousands of grant awards made to Plaintiffs, pulling the rug out from under the States, and taking away critical federal funding on which States and their residents rely for essential programs,' the lawsuit added.
"The White House's Office of Management and Budget did not immediately respond to a request made Tuesday afternoon for comment.
"#RhodeIsland Attorney General Neronha said this lawsuit was just one of several the coalition of mostly Democratic states have filed over funding cuts. For the most part, they have largely succeeded in a string of legal victories to temporarily halt cuts.
"This one, though, may be the broadest challenge to those funding cuts.
" 'It’s no secret that this President has gone to great lengths to intercept federal funding to the states, but what may be lesser known is how the Trump Administration is attempting to justify their unlawful actions,' Neronha said in a statement. 'Nearly every lawsuit this coalition of Democratic attorneys general has filed against the Administration is related to its unlawful and flagrant attempts to rob Americans of basic programs and services upon which they rely. Most often, this comes in the form of illegal federal funding cuts, which the Administration attempts to justify via a so-called agency priorities clause.'
"#Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the lawsuit aimed to stop funding cuts he described as indiscriminate and illegal.
" 'There is no ‘because I don’t like you’ or ‘because I don’t feel like it anymore’ defunding clause in federal law that allows the President to bypass Congress on a whim,' Tong said in a statement. 'Since his first minutes in office, Trump has unilaterally defunded our police, our schools, our healthcare, and more. He can’t do that, and that’s why over and over again we have blocked him in court and won back our funding.'
"In #Massachusetts, Attorney General Andrea Campbell said the U.S. Department of Agriculture terminated a $11 million agreement with the state Department of Agricultural Resources connecting hundreds of #farmers to hundreds of food distribution sites while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [#EPA] terminated a $1 million grant to the state Department of Public Health to reduce asthma triggers in #LowIncome communities.
" 'We cannot stand idly by while this President continues to launch unprecedented, unlawful attacks on Massachusetts’ residents, institutions, and economy,' Campbell said in a statement."
Read more:
https://wgme.com/news/local/maine-joins-20-states-to-challenge-trump-administration-funding-cuts
The backlog has alarmed career ofcls who warn it could amount to illegal impoundment of funds.
Major #funding agencies including the #NIH & the National #Science Foundation [#NSF] have been mired in #dysfunction that has slowed the routine work of awarding new #grants & sending billions in funding, appropriated by #Congress, to researchers & projects across the country.
The new process has created a bottleneck for agencies such as #NASA that seek to award #grants. #HHS, for instance, is waiting for the federal govt to post at least 30 planned #funding opportunities that encompass tens of millions of dollars in congressionally appropriated funds for #health & #ElderCare initiatives — including $8 million for #HolocaustSurvivor support & $6 million for #Alzheimer’s #caregiver assistance — risking their expiration within the fiscal year.
The admin still *could* disburse money for many stalled programs before the end of the fiscal year. Rachel Cauley, a spox for the #OMB, said in a stmnt that while they have not happened thus far, “impoundments remain an option at the president’s disposal.”
Though billionaire #ElonMusk’s #DOGE drew significant attention for its speedy cuts, #RussVought, #Trump’s budget director [& one of #Project2025’s architects], is expected to be key to the coming fight over spending.
The #legislation is the first request by the #Trump admin for #Congress to TAKE BACK MONEY IT ALREADY APPROVED through annual spending bills. The bill reflects a list of cuts totaling $9.4 billion that were requested by #RussVought’s #OMB. The bulk of the cuts—$8.3 billion—are to #ForeignAid programs addressing global #PublicHealth, international #disaster assistance & #hunger relief.
