OMB Director Russell Vought Inserts Political Conditions Into 100+ Budget Accounts, Blocking Congressional Appropriations

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought inserted political conditions into over 100 budget accounts, blocking billions in congressionally appropriated funds from being spent according to legislative intent. Vought’s OMB added requirements such as ideological loyalty tests, policy concessions, and political prerequisites to funds that Congress had already authorized and appropriated through the constitutional legislative process. This represents a constitutional power grab where the executive branch unilaterally rewrites spending bills after passage, usurping Congress’s fundamental power of the purse guaranteed in Article I. By conditioning disbursement of appropriated funds on political demands never debated or approved by Congress, Vought transforms budget execution into a tool of extortion against federal agencies, state governments, and grant recipients. The practice fundamentally undermines separation of powers: Congress passes spending bills with specific purposes and amounts, but OMB refuses to release funds unless recipients comply with additional executive branch demands. This budget manipulation enables Trump to govern as if Congress’s appropriations are merely suggestions subject to executive revision rather than laws that bind the president.