Budget head Vought floats impoundment to sidestep Congress on DOGE cuts
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OMB Director Russ Vought speaks with the press outside of the West Wing at the White House on May 22. Photo: Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The White House is weighing options like impoundment to formalize DOGE's spending cuts without going through Congress, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said Sunday.
Why it maters: That would tee up a potential Supreme Court fight over the scope of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, which bars the president from cutting funding without congressional approval.
- Trump and allies have railed against the law, which was signed after former President Nixon impounded billions.
Driving the news: Vought said on CNN's "State of the Union" that the administration "might" send all of DOGE's cuts to Congress for approval but is waiting to gauge how the $9.4 billion rescissions package the White House plans to send to lawmakers this week fares.
- "It's the first of many rescissions bills," he said. "Some we may not actually have to get ... Congress to pass the rescissions bills."
- Pressed by CNN's Dana Bash on why the White House would sidestep Congress, Vought continued, "We have executive tools; we have impoundment."
Vought argued spending less than was appropriated by Congress was "totally appropriate" for 200 years but that reforms in the 1970s led to "massive waste, fraud and abuse."
- He argued that the Impoundment Control Act also allows for pocket rescissions, a practice of proposing rescissions near the end of the fiscal year to essentially run out the clock, which Vought has long championed.
- "It's a provision that has been rarely used, but it's there," he said. "And we intend to use all of these tools. We want Congress to pass it where it's necessary; we also have executive tools."
The other side: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — who has recently been at odds with the administration over its so-called big, beautiful bill — said the White House "absolutely" needs to use a rescission when asked about Vought's comments on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
- "It is done by simple majority, by Republicans only," Paul said, adding "it's a great tool to cut spending."
- He continued, "If they don't use it, it will be a huge wasted opportunity."
Friction point: Asked if the administration's moves were intended tee up a Supreme Court battle over the 50-year-old law, Vought said, "We're certainly not taking impoundment off the table."
- He continued, "We're not in love with the law," which he said upended two centuries of precedent at the "lowest moment of the executive branch."
Go deeper: Senate Dems sound alarm on Trump's budget director
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from Sen. Rand Paul.
