Budget Hearings Reveal Bipartisan Support for Congress Keeping the Power of the Purse
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congress has started the FY 26 appropriations process with a series of hearings questioning top administration officials. In these hearings, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pressed Trump officials on the administration’s unlawful impoundment of funds appropriated by Congress. Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“Republicans and Democrats are refusing to accept the administration’s undermining of congressional spending directives and mockery of the appropriations process. Members of both parties continue to refute the administration’s illegal and unconstitutional impoundment actions with a simple message: Congress has the power of the purse, not the president.
“Under bipartisan questioning, the administration has failed to defend its illegal funding freeze of projects across the country and its indiscriminate firings of federal workers that have made implementation of laws passed by Congress impossible. It is critical that Congress continue to keep up the pressure and insist on its constitutional role as the holder of the federal power of the purse.”