Impoundment: Unlawful Stealing of Funds Promised to Americans
Overview
Impoundment—stealing funds promised to the American people—has always been unlawful. The Trump Administration, including Elon Musk and OMB Director Russ Vought, have fabricated the existence of an inherent Presidential power to impound, something the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, and the Supreme Court of the United States have all disavowed.
President Trump, Elon Musk, and Russ Vought have dispatched hordes of unelected and unaccountable political appointees to choke off investments made to the American people. The Trump Administration has blatantly and repeatedly violated the law to steal American taxpayer dollars by depriving communities of the promised investments they deserve. Every instance of Republicans unilaterally stealing investments from American families and businesses directly affects individuals across the nation.
Fact Sheets and Background
Today, as the Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reached its 32nd day, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) opened a discharge petition to bring up her bill that would fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (FEMA), and the U.S. Coast Guard, along with every other part of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Office of the Secretary.
Today, the House Appropriations Committee released text for the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment fiscal year 2026 funding package.
After weeks of infighting, Republicans have failed to move any of the nine remaining fiscal year 2026 spending bills since the government reopened more than a month ago. A new fact sheet released today by the House Appropriations Committee highlights how Republican proposals fail to address Americans’ concerns about affordability, community safety, and President Trump’s corruption.
Since the day they took office, President Trump and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought have been breaking the law, blocking Congressionally-approved public funding, and depriving American communities of crucial resources that were allocated on a bipartisan basis. A new fact sheet released today by House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) lays out some of the most flagrant violations of the law perpetrated by President Trump and Russ Vought.
Today, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released updated information detailing at least $410 billion in federal funding that President Trump and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought are holding up and denying communities across the country.
Statements
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) issued a statement after the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is seeking $200 billion for President Trump’s war in Iran.
Today, as the Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reached its 32nd day, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) opened a discharge petition to bring up her bill that would fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (FEMA), and the U.S. Coast Guard, along with every other part of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Office of the Secretary.
Today, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) released a statement after a federal judge blocked Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s changes to the childhood vaccine schedule:
Today, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) issued a statement as workers across the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Coast Guard, and Secret Service missed a full paycheck.
Today, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) issued a statement after Senate Republicans blocked funding for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the U.S. Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA):
What Ranking Members are Reading
Today, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released updated information detailing at least $410 billion in federal funding that President Trump and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought are holding up and denying communities across the country.
More than 100 tribal representatives and organizations will testify before the House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee this week, in one of the largest collective testimonies by Native communities in recent committee history.
For weeks, I have been sounding the alarm on the devastating impacts that the Trump administration’s policies are having on our communities—from our farmers and educators to our scientists and small businesses. I hope the tribal witnesses we’ll hear from will share how this administration is affecting the lives and livelihoods of Indigenous people in their communities — and across the country.
Ranking Member DeLauro regarding the Jan. 13 editorial, “Thumbs ups and thumbs downs on Trump’s picks."
Remarks
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) delivered the following remarks during a National Security, Department of State and Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee hearing at the United Nations:
Today, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member delivered the following remarks on the House Floor regarding Republicans’ refusal to support funding legislation for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Secret Service:
Today, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) gave the following remarks during debate on the Rule to bring up Republicans’ Homeland Security bill:
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks at the House Rules Committee in support of the fiscal year 2026 spending package covering the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment funding bills:
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in opposition to the Republican plan to allow health care costs to skyrocket for over 20 million Americans:
Letters to the Trump Administration
Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee; Betty McCollum, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Adam Smith, Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee; and Jim Himes, Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence sent a letter to top Trump administration officials set to brief Congress today.
Today, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Ranking Member James Clyburn led 204 of their House colleagues in a letter to Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner, requesting the Department work with Congress to prevent 170,000 people from losing their homes in the dead of winter.
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to issue a legal decision on whether President Trump’s Department of Energy (DOE) violated key appropriations laws in shifting hundreds of millions of dollars provided for research and development of clean energy sources in the full-year continuing resolution (CR) President Trump signed into law in March and steering those funds to energy sources it favors.
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair, sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought calling out the Trump administration’s unacceptable failure to submit detailed spend plans for each agency to the Appropriations Committees, as the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2025 requires by law.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, alongside Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today sent a letter to the Interim Agency Head of AmeriCorps calling for the immediate reversal of layoffs and grant terminations that have debilitated the agency’s core functions and run counter to its longstanding, bipartisan support in Congress.