SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
house budget committee
‘What Is the Administration Trying to Hide?’ Dems Demand Public Testimony From Trump Budget Chief
"He has unlawfully blocked funding and created a massive affordability crisis across the country. Congress and the American people deserve answers."
Dec 02, 2025
A group of House Democrats on Tuesday called on President Donald Trump's budget chief, Russell Vought, to publicly testify on the administration's unlawful withholding of funds approved by Congress and broader economic agenda, which the lawmakers said is "driving up costs, weakening the labor market, and inflicting real economic harm on the American people."
"We remain alarmed that you persist in implementing an extreme agenda that jeopardizes the economic security of the American people and shows open disregard for Congress' constitutional power of the purse," House Budget Committee Democrats, led by Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), wrote in a letter to Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and a lead architect of the far-right Project 2025 agenda.
The lawmakers accused Vought of dodging the House Budget Committee, noting that the head of OMB typically appears before the panel shortly after the release of the president's annual budget request. Trump unveiled his budget blueprint all the way back in May.
"Not only has the committee yet to hear from OMB, you have also found time for multiple closed-door meetings with House Republicans," the Democrats wrote. "Under Democratic chairs, the public was never shut out from these important exchanges. What is the administration trying to hide?"
The letter points to Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports finding that the Trump administration has repeatedly violated federal law by withholding or delaying the disbursement of funds authorized by Congress, including National Institutes of Health research grants and money for Head Start.
The House Democrats also condemned Vought's attacks on government transparency, citing his agency's decision earlier this year to cut off public access to a database that tracks federal spending. OMB later partially restored the database after losing a court fight.
"If you fail to appear before this committee before the end of the year, this will be the only administration in the last 50 years to not send the OMB director—a basic standard you yourself met during President Trump’s first administration (appearing in both 2019 and 2020)," the lawmakers wrote on Tuesday. "If you disagree... it will make one point unmistakably clear: you know you cannot defend an extreme agenda."
We’re demanding that Russ Vought, Trump’s OMB Director and the architect of Project 2025, testify before the House Budget Committee.
He has unlawfully blocked funding and created a massive affordability crisis across the country. Congress and the American people deserve answers. pic.twitter.com/kxde5mCYs9
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) December 2, 2025
After playing a key role in crafting the notorious Project 2025 agenda ahead of Trump's 2024 election win, Vought has emerged as one of the most powerful figures in the administration, wielding power at OMB so aggressively that ProPublica recently dubbed him "the shadow president."
"What Vought has done in the nine months since Trump took office goes much further than slashing foreign aid," the investigative outlet noted. "Relying on an expansive theory of presidential power and a willingness to test the rule of law, he has frozen vast sums of federal spending, terminated tens of thousands of federal workers and, in a few cases, brought entire agencies to a standstill."
One anonymous administration official told ProPublica that "it feels like we work for Russ Vought."
"He has centralized decision-making power to an extent that he is the commander-in-chief," the official said.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Nonprofit Killer' Pulled From GOP Tax Bill—For Now
"Because authoritarians love using censorship to silence opposition, it's likely gonna keep rearing its head," warned one rights group.
May 19, 2025
While welcoming the removal of legislation in House Republicans' budget reconciliation package that would empower U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit it deems supportive of a terrorist organization, rights groups on Monday urged vigilance, warning that GOP lawmakers could slip the contentious provision back into a future draft of the legislation.
In an unusual late Sunday night session, the House Budget Committee voted 17-16, with four Republicans voting "present," to advance the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—named in an act of GOP fealty to Trump's description of the proposal—which would extend the president's 2017 tax cuts that have disproportionately benefited ultrawealthy households and corporations while slashing vital social programs upon which tens of millions of people rely.
The latest version of the proposal no longer contains an amendment based on the language of the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, or H.R. 9495—which critics have dubbed the "nonprofit killer."
"The removal of the nonprofit killer bill from the House Republicans' advanced tax package is a promising sign, not a victory."
According to the advocacy group Free Press Action, the bill allows the treasury secretary "to accuse any nonprofit of supporting terrorism—and to terminate its tax-exempt status without due process."
Civil liberties defenders say the proposal's lack of clarity regarding the determination of whether and how a nonprofit supports terrorism would enable Trump to follow through on his threats to cancel the tax-exempt status for organizations with which he disagrees, including universities, advocacy groups, media outlets, charities, religious institutions, and others.
Organizations that support Palestinian rights or oppose Israel's annihilation of Gaza—which is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case—have been particularly concerned about the bill, citing the Trump administration's moves to defund universities and other institution that oppose crackdowns on Gaza protests and the arrest and detention of foreign nationals, including green-card holders, for constitutionally protected protests.
The Nonprofit Killer Bill was pulled from the GOP tax package, but this is no victory. It could return at any moment. If we want to protect the right of nonprofits to speak truth to power, we must act now. 🛑 Tell Congress: Keep the Nonprofit Killer Bill OUT 👉 action.cair.com/a/nonprofit-killer-bill
[image or embed]
— CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) (@cairnational.bsky.social) May 19, 2025 at 12:58 PM
While welcoming the removal of the measure from the reconciliation package, groups including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) warned of the possibility that Republican lawmakers could re-insert the provision in the reconciliation package, which is scheduled for consideration by the House Rules Committee later this week.
"The removal of the nonprofit killer bill from the House Republicans' advanced tax package is a promising sign, not a victory," CAIR government affairs director Robert S. McCaw said Monday. "This provision could come back at any time, and if Americans want to preserve the right of nonprofits to speak truth to power, now is the time to flood Congress with messages demanding they keep this language out of the bill."
"We are defending nothing less than the future of nonprofit advocacy and our core constitutional freedoms," McCaw added.
While it is uncertain why the proposal was removed from the reconciliation bill, ACLU senior policy counsel Kia Hamadanchy told The Intercept that "it's possible they took it out to rewrite it in some way, because we know that this package is going to be amended."
"But for now, it's not in the text of the bill, and that's an improvement from where we were at last week," Hamadanchy added.
Addressing everyone who contacted their federal lawmakers or took other action in opposition to the bill, the digital rights group Fight for the Future said on the social media site Bluesky that "pressure from YOU is making a difference."
"We killed this bill in the fall, but because authoritarians love using censorship to silence opposition, it's likely gonna keep rearing its head," the group added, referring to the legislation's failure to receive a Senate vote before the previous congressional term ended.
Keep ReadingShow Less
After 'Backroom Deal' to Make Medicaid Cuts Even Worse, GOP Advances Budget Bill
"The only reason this vote passed tonight is because they've plotted behind closed doors to hurt even more families."
May 19, 2025
Republicans pushed their massive reconciliation bill through the House Budget Committee late Sunday after striking a deal with GOP hardliners who tanked a vote on the package late last week, complaining that the measure's proposed cuts to Medicaid and other programs were not sufficiently aggressive.
The final vote on Sunday was 17-16, with the four Republicans who voted against the bill on Friday switching their votes to "present," allowing the legislation to clear the committee.
Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, one of the Republicans who switched his vote, said during Sunday's hearing that he is "excited about the changes we've made"—prompting Democratic committee members to ask, "What changes?"
"Do not be fooled," Democratic Rep. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands said Sunday. "The 'no' votes from certain Republicans on Friday were because the cuts were not fast or deep enough. In the back room, Republicans agreed to deeper and especially faster cuts to programs."
WATCH: Republicans admit they made a backroom deal to change their budget bill — but they won't tell the American people.
One thing is clear: the only reason this vote passed tonight is because they’ve plotted behind closed doors to make their health care cuts even worse. pic.twitter.com/BWeEHlafMq
— House Budget Committee Democrats (@HouseBudgetDems) May 19, 2025
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wrote in a social media post after joining Norman in voting "present" that "after a great deal of work and engagement over the weekend," the legislation "now will move Medicaid work requirements forward and reduces the availability of future subsidies under the green new scam"—a reference to clean energy tax credits established by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Roy and other Republican hardliners are also reportedly pursuing changes that could force states to end their Medicaid expansions, which would strip coverage from millions and potentially kill tens of thousands of people per year.
In its current form, the Republican reconciliation bill would inflict the largest cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in U.S. history, slashing or eliminating benefits for millions by implementing strict work requirements and forcing many Medicaid recipients to pay more for coverage, among other changes—all while giving major tax breaks to the wealthy.
The legislation's Medicaid work requirements, which policy experts have condemned as cruel and ineffective, were slated to begin in 2029, but GOP hardliners want them to start immediately.
The changes sought by Roy, Norman, and other far-right Republicans must get through the House Rules Committee before the bill can reach the House floor. The GOP controls the panel, and both Roy and Norman are members.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said following Sunday's vote that "Republicans have spent months lying about their plan to make the largest cuts to healthcare and food assistance in American history."
"Kicking 13.7 million people off their healthcare apparently wasn't enough for House Republicans," Boyle added. "The only reason this vote passed tonight is because they've plotted behind closed doors to hurt even more families while refusing to share this backroom deal with the American people. This fight isn't over, and we're going to make sure every American knows exactly how they've been betrayed by Donald Trump and the Republican Party."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular