April 15, 2026

White House OMB Director Russell Vought Must Answer for His Extremism

OMB Director Vought has tough questions to answer

Public Citizen is sharing some important questions for White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought with lawmakers in both chambers of Congress and reporters ahead of his hearings this week. Vought is expected to testify today before the House Budget Committee and the Senate Budget Committee on Thursday.

Many of the questions for Vought challenge his extreme views on the White House’s spending authority, the administration’s repeated defiance of congressional oversight and spending prerogatives, the White House’s corrupt attacks on the federal regulatory process, and its demands for unprecedented Pentagon spending.

Public Citizen’s experts are available to discuss these matters and comment on Vought’s responses at the hearings. Please reach out to drosen@citizen.org to get connected.

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Questions:

1. The Administration issued an executive order directing the Office of Management and Budget to pay the salaries of federal employees at the Department of Homeland Security not currently funded by appropriations using funds “that have a reasonable and logical nexus” to DHS operations. What specific funding is available to fund these agencies and to which agencies is this funding going? If the Administration is using Sec. 90007 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, what is the reasonable nexus between FEMA operations and that section’s requirement that funds be used to fulfill the DHS mission of safeguarding the borders of the United States? More recently, it has been reported that the Administration will stop paying DHS employees and that paychecks will not be issued until Congress passes an appropriations bill to fund the Department. After deciding to pay DHS employees, why has the Administration decided to take their pay hostage until Congress passes a DHS appropriations bill?
2. You have said that you would like the Congressional appropriations process to be less bipartisan. Currently, the Administration is pursuing a strategy to fund DHS for multiple years and include major baseline increases for the Department of War through the partisan budget reconciliation process. Why does the Administration believe funding increases for War and Homeland Security should happen outside of the annual appropriations process? Does the Administration believe Congress should fund all of government in a partisan manner, either through reconciliation or by eliminating the Senate filibuster?
3. Section 416 of the appropriations act for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related agencies requires that each department or agency funded in FY26 shall report to the Appropriations Committees no later than 60 days following enactment of the law, and monthly thereafter, on the status of obligation of funds. What steps has OMB taken to ensure that agencies comply with Sec. 416? Has every department and agency been reporting to the Committees on Appropriations as required by law?
4. Of the apportionments OMB has made publicly available, there are dozens of anomalies that restrict funding to agencies contrary to the will of Congress. This includes instances within the Departments of Agriculture and Interior where the Administration has conditioned funding to align with “Administration priorities” in spend plans. OMB’s apportionment decisions are set forth in these spend plans and must be publicly disclosed under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. Yet in dozens of instances OMB has not done so. When will OMB post these spend plans? In other cases, such as programs within Community Development Financial Institutions accounts, OMB has not apportioned hundreds of millions of dollars, thus impounding them. CDFI is broadly supported by Congress, including a letter from October signed by more than 100 Congressional Republicans. Does OMB intend to release all of the CDFI funding as required by appropriations law? When will this happen? In other cases, OMB has apportioned funding in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year, even though previous apportionments did not impose similar delays. The timing of this apportionment raises the possibility that OMB is planning to withhold this funding just prior to its expiration, triggering a pocket rescission – or late-term impoundment – against the will of Congress. Will OMB commit to sending any rescissions requests more than 90 days before the funds expire to ensure Congress has time to adequately consider and vote upon the proposed cuts?
5.  In the recent Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026 Congress renewed a longstanding prohibition against using any taxpayer dollars to “eliminate[] or reduce funding for a program …as proposed in the President’s budget request . . . until such proposed change is subsequently enacted in an appropriation Act…” Several apportionments or failures to apportion funds, such as OMBs withholding of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) funding, run afoul of this provision, which is enforceable under the Antideficiency Act. Have you and the OMB Program Associate Directors to whom you delegated the authority to sign apportionments been briefed on your personal liability under the Antideficiency Act, for violating this provision? Are you and your staff aware that knowing and willful violations of the Antideficiency Act can be subject to criminal penalties, and have a statute of limitations of five years?
6. You have said that you believe the president has constitutional authority to not spend money the Congress wants him to spend and has been directed to do so by statute. Do you believe this theory extends to formula grants? Do you believe your theory extends to public insurance programs like Medicare and Social Security?
7. Recent reports reveal that you are considering moving into military housing for your safety, yet you have previously called for federal workers “to be traumatically affected” and seen as “the villains.” Director Vought, what would you like to say to the government workers – whom you’ve traumatized, villainized, threatened with RIFs, furloughed, and fired – who don’t have the privilege of fleeing to military housing for safety and security?
8. The General Services Administration (GSA), at OMB’s direction, last year without notice or explanation removed a tool called the POST Application Programming Interface (API) from Regulations.gov, preventing advocacy groups and other third-party organizations from submitting their members’ comments on proposed rules to federal agencies. Why did OMB permanently remove this vital tool for public engagement on the President’s deregulatory agenda from the public comment website Regulations.gov? What evidence supports the decision and will you make it available to the public?
9. Your administration says agencies finalized deregulatory actions at a 129-to-1 ratio for Fiscal Year 2025. You stated, “The Trump Administration’s deregulatory agenda is the most ambitious in American history. We have blown far past the target 10-to-1 deregulatory ratio in President Trump’s Executive Order, saving hundreds of billions for the American people. In less than one year we have already achieved more savings than in all four years of the prior Trump Administration, and we’re just getting started.” Director Vought, how exactly has deregulation for major corporations led to affordability for the American people? The cost of living is higher than ever and Americans are in more debt than ever. And cutting safeguards passes even more cost and harm onto the public. How do you explain that? 
10. The White House is proposing a near 50% increase in Pentagon spending, raising the total Pentagon and military budget to $1.5 trillion from an already inflated $1 trillion this year. You are proposing that this would be funded in part by slashing 10% from health, housing, environmental and other programs Americans deeply care about. The $500 billion proposed increase in Pentagon funding would be enough to meaningfully address our county’s greatest challenges, including health care, day care, affordable housing, education, and the climate crisis. Americans are suffering from skyrocketing costs of living, due in part to your illegal and reckless war on Iran. To make matters even worse, the Pentagon has repeatedly failed audits, and last September, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth burned through $80 billion in unspent funds that he clearly didn’t need, including $6.9 million on lobster tail and $2 million on king crab. Why should the Pentagon get a penny more in increased funding when this Administration is wasting billions of dollars on an illegal and disastrous war on Iran, Secretary Hegseth is feasting on taxpayer funded lobster tail and king crab, and you have been slashing funding for healthcare programs, the environment, housing, and education?