Six-plus GAO findings: the administration versus the power of the purse

GAO issued at least six formal findings that the administration violated the Impoundment Control Act; OMB Director Russ Vought has repeatedly defended his view that the Act is unconstitutional

Beginning in 2025, GAO, the nonpartisan legislative-branch watchdog charged with policing executive compliance with the Impoundment Control Act, issued at least six separate formal findings that the administration illegally withheld congressionally appropriated funds, spanning FEMA emergency-shelter programs, Department of Transportation EV-charging infrastructure funding, and other accounts. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities separately calculated the administration was nearly $26 billion behind normal spending pace through July 2025, concentrated specifically in programs the administration had proposed to cut or eliminate, evidence the delays were policy-driven rather than administrative.

In August 2025, the administration executed what budget experts called the first 'pocket rescission' in roughly 50 years: submitting a rescission request for $4.9 billion in USAID funding late enough in the fiscal year that the funds would expire before Congress could act on the request either way, a maneuver GAO's own 2018 legal opinion had already found unlawful. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, a Republican, said directly: 'GAO has concluded that this type of rescission is unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act... Article I of the Constitution makes clear that Congress has the responsibility for the power of the purse.'

OMB Director Russ Vought has been explicit about his intent: he told reporters in July 2025 that 'the appropriations process has to be less bipartisan' and that the administration would not abide by bipartisan spending agreements, and in his confirmation hearings repeatedly defended his view that the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional while conceding that no court has found it so.

Documented

GAO has repeatedly found statutory violations of the Impoundment Control Act; a Republican-chaired committee's own senator called one instance unlawful

Ongoing 2025-2026; GAO findings issued at least six times through September 2025; first 'pocket rescission' in ~50 years, August 2025