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FACT SHEET: Russ Vought is a Threat to Our System of Checks and Balances

Jan 15, 2025

FACT SHEET: Russ Vought is a Threat to Our System of Checks and Balances

OMB Nominee Staunch Advocate Of “Impoundments,” Will Ignore Spending Laws Passed by Congress

The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse, a key pillar of the checks and balances in our government. As President Trump prepares to take office, he and his allies have a clear  plan to undermine our nation’s separation of powers by trying to wrest that authority away from Congress. 

This overreach of power known as impoundment — where the president declines to spend money appropriated by Congress — is unconstitutional. But Trump’s nomination of Russ Vought – who wrote the first Trump Administration’s playbook for using impoundment – for Office of Management and Budget Director shows he will pursue a radical and unconstitutional expansion of executive authority. 

Ahead of Russ Vought’s confirmation hearing, here’s what you need to know about his threat to our system of checks and balances.

Impoundment is illegal and unconstitutional, and its use would threaten our system of checks and balances.

  • Impoundment occurs when the president declines to spend money Congress has appropriated. 
  • This practice has always been unconstitutional, a fact supported by the Supreme Court, Department of Justice, and the Government Accountability Office. In 1974, impoundment was further clarified with the Impoundment Control Act, which created the process a president must follow to delay or cancel funding — only with Congress’ approval. 
  • The law was passed in response to abuses of impoundment by Richard Nixon, who used it to refuse to spend funds Congress allocated to clean sewage out of municipal water systems. In his first term, Trump unsuccessfully tried to use impoundment to deny aid funds to Ukraine, leading to his first impeachment.  

 

Russ Vought is a leading proponent of impoundment.

  • Vought advocated for impoundment while serving as the OMB director at the end of Trump’s first term, saying in a letter that the Impoundment Control Act “is unworkable in practice and should be significantly reformed or repealed.
    • This letter came after Trump’s OMB violated the law and used impoundment to withhold aid from Ukraine while Vought was deputy director. 
  • After leaving the Trump administration, Vought founded a think tank that, together with Project 2025, creates the roadmap for deploying impoundments to ignore Congressional laws without a vote.
    • Vought’s think tank has encouraged $2 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, more than $600 billion in cuts to the Affordable Care Act.

 

At the OMB, Vought would lead Trump’s effort to ignore spending laws passed by Congress and usurp Congress’s power of the purse. 

  • Trump made the power of impoundment a priority in his agenda
    • His nomination of impoundment champion Russ Vought in a crucial role that directly impacts how the executive branch uses power is a clear step towards that goal.
    • Vought served in leadership the last time Trump’s OMB helped him illegally use impoundment for his political agenda.
    • Vought himself wrote a chapter in Project 2025 outlining how OMB could help a president amass unchecked executive power.

 

Bottom Line: Confirming Russ Vought as OMB director would be a dangerous step towards Trump’s effort to seize power from Congress and override Congress’s constitutional spending authority.