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\n

Senate Republicans are eager to seat the man who could undercut their funding power.<\/p>\n

As President Donald Trump boldly defies the will of Congress by issuing executive orders freezing billions of dollars in federal cash that lawmakers have approved in recent years, Senate Republicans are still speaking accolades of Russ Vought, the president\u2019s pick for White House budget director and the man famous for withholding government money during Trump\u2019s first administration.<\/p>\n

Key committee chairs are predicting that the Senate will confirm Vought without issue to head the Office of Management and Budget again, even as some GOP senators raise concern about protecting Congress\u2019 \u201cpower of the purse\u201d \u2014 granted under Article I of the Constitution \u2014 from presidential overreach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all of us are going to vote for you,\u201d Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham<\/a> told Vought on Wednesday, as the nominee testified before the South Carolina Republican\u2019s committee in his second public vetting this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line is, I think you’re qualified for the job. I know why he picked you,\u201d Graham said of Trump\u2019s selection of Vought. \u201cAnd again, we just had an election. And when you win, you get to pick people. And I’m glad he picked you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loyally confirming Trump\u2019s desired budget director amid the new president\u2019s sweeping funding pause would immediately strengthen the White House\u2019s ability to pick and choose what cash to spend, shirking the spending laws congressional Republicans have voted to enact and calling into question the soundness of any bills they clear in the future.<\/p>\n

Notably, Vought would not promise Wednesday to avoid circumventing impoundment law, which is meant to block presidents from withholding money Congress has previously passed through the Congressional appropriations process.<\/p>\n

Federal watchdogs concluded that Vought and other Trump administration officials violated impoundment law several times during Trump\u2019s first term, including the freezing of aid to Ukraine that helped fuel Trump\u2019s impeachment in 2019.<\/p>\n

But Vought said the executive orders Trump issued within hours of taking office Monday are simply \u201cprogrammatic delays\u201d or \u201cpauses,\u201d explaining they are meant \u201cto ensure that the funding that is in place is consistent and moves in a direction along the lines of what the president ran on.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Vought vowed to \u201cfaithfully uphold the law\u201d if confirmed, he noted that Trump disagrees with the Impoundment Control Act enacted more than 50 years ago to insulate the congressional appropriations process from executive branch meddling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president ran on the notion that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional. I agree with that,\u201d Vought said, further insisting that \u201cwhat the president has unveiled already are not impoundments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Jeff Merkley<\/a> of Oregon, the Budget Committee\u2019s top Democrat, told Vought on Wednesday he was \u201cdeeply disturbed\u201d with his answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress makes the law, not the president,\u201d said Merkley. \u201cThe fact that you continue to advocate for this impoundment strategy, that is completely in violation of our Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the far-reaching orders Trump issued after he was inaugurated on Monday, federal agencies are now being forced to pause funding from Democrats\u2019 signature climate and spending law called the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as from the bipartisan infrastructure package Republicans helped enact in 2021.<\/p>\n

Foreign assistance is also on hold for 90 days, including to Ukraine and Israel as the two U.S. allies are in the midst of wars.<\/p>\n

Not every Republican is giving Vought a total free pass. Sen. Rand Paul<\/a> (R-Ky.), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee \u2014 which also has jurisdiction over the OMB director nomination and held its own confirmation hearing with Vought last week \u2014 said he didn\u2019t think a president should have the power to use government funding differently than how lawmakers have dictated in the bills they pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power of the purse is Congress,\u201d Paul said during that hearing. \u201cI think if we appropriate something for a cause, that\u2019s where it\u2019s supposed to go. And that will still be my position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, less than a week later, Paul led Republicans on his committee to approve Vought\u2019s nomination, stating, \u201cThere is no doubt he will be swiftly confirmed.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Republicans are eager to seat the man who could undercut their funding power. As President Donald Trump boldly defies the will of Congress by issuing executive orders freezing billions of dollars in federal cash that lawmakers have approved in recent years, Senate Republicans are still speaking accolades of Russ Vought, the president\u2019s pick for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}