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
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 how President Trump is freezing at least $425 billion in federal funding that Congress has promised to communities across the country.
Washington, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, sent a letter to Secretary Linda McMahon calling out the Department’s failure to provide public K-12 schools across the nation the timely notice they usually receive about federal funding they count on—and urging McMahon to put an end to the harmful delays.
WASHINGTON — While President Trump and Republicans in Congress claim they support law enforcement, the Trump Administration’s actions tell a very different story. Instead of investing in law enforcement and our police officers, President Trump’s budget defunds public safety to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.
Last week, United States Secretary of Energy Chris Wright appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies for a hearing on the Department of Energy’s fiscal year 2026 budget request. During the hearing, Secretary Wright made several incorrect, misleading, or outright false statements.
NEW: 100 Days In, Trump is Blocking At Least $430 Billion Dollars in Funding Owed to American People
Today—on President Trump’s 100th day in office—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 a new tracker detailing how President Trump is freezing at least $430 billion in federal funding that Congress has promised to communities across America.
Statements
ouse Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) released the following statement on President Trump and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought’s release of $15 billion in National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funds while they continue to unlawfully withhold funds from agencies across the federal government.
House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) issued the following statement on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought’s illegal freeze of nearly $15 billion in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for research grants.
The Litigation Task Force led 157 House Democrats in filing an amicus brief challenging the Office of Management and Budget’s unlawful freezing of congressional appropriated funds in order to further President Trump’s reckless agenda. Their argument makes clear that the President cannot unilaterally bypass the Congress—and thereby the will of the American people—and withhold appropriated funds based on his own priorities or policy preferences. It also underscores that under the United States Constitution, Congress has the exclusive power to appropriate funds and to make laws governing their use.
House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) called for the release of all frozen funds following President Trump and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought’s decision to release more Department of Education Funds they were illegally withholding.
Today, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued another impoundment decision. After investigating the withholding of appropriated funding at the Department of Health and Human Services for the Head Start Program, GAO confirmed what we already knew: President Trump and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought’s attacks on American families and early childhood learning programs are unlawful.
What Ranking Members are Reading
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
WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in opposition to Republicans' rescissions package:
WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee’s fiscal year 2026 budget hearing for the U.S. Department of Education:
WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks at the Democratic Hearing examining the consequences of the Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and our entire public health system:
WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, spoke live to the American people last night from her office in the U.S. Capitol alongside several House Democrats regarding the consequences of Elon Musk and President Trump unlawfully stealing funds promised to the American people.
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's hearing on preparing community college students for the workforce:
Letters to the Trump Administration
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.
The Litigation and Rapid Response Task Force led 192 House Democrats in filing an amicus brief challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to close the Department of Education in the matter of the State of New York v. Linda McMahon. A case in which 20 states moved to sue the administration for its plans to place fifty percent of the Department’s workforce on administrative leave, effectively shuttering a congressionally authorized agency by way of executive fiat.
Toledo, Ohio — Today, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (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, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting it review whether a recent order issued by Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright that seeks to accelerate project execution might actually lead to more cost overruns, project delays and failures, and waste, fraud, and abuse at America’s national labs.