U.S. Office of Management and Budget
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget prepares the President's budget request and oversees how agencies execute appropriations Congress has passed. Entries naming it from 2025 onward record the withholding, delay or redirection of appropriated funds, and sit predominantly in abuse categories concerning the executive's relationship with Congress rather than any policy area.
Also known as OMB
2026 Events (4)
ProPublica investigation reveals Trump officials defied FY2026 appropriations, spending 5% of congressionally-mandated global health funds
A ProPublica investigation published June 22, 2026, found Trump administration officials broadly refused to comply with the FY2026 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, which Trump signed into law on February 3, 2026. The law directed $9.4 billion for global health programs including PEPFAR and more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid; the Office of Management and Budget labeled hundreds of millions in earmarked funds as "unallocated" to block their disbursement, while the State Department obligated just 5% of directed global health funds through March. Legal experts told ProPublica the conduct likely violated the Impoundment Control Act and constituted a constitutional crisis in the separation of powers.
OMB published proposed rule subjecting all federal grants to political-appointee review and requiring recipients to advance the president's priorities
On May 29, 2026, the Office of Management and Budget published a proposed rule in the Federal Register (Document 2026-10817) that would revise government-wide federal grant regulations to require recipients to "demonstrably advance the president's policy priorities," replace subject-matter peer reviewers with political appointees in the grant approval process, and authorize political appointees to cancel any federal grant award "at any point and for any reason." The rule is open for public comment through July 13, 2026, and would codify government-wide what the administration had previously imposed agency-by-agency through executive orders and individual grant-program rewrites.
Trump administration moved to rescind $600M in CDC health grants, targeting only 4 of 107 recipient states
The Office of Management and Budget ordered the CDC to cancel roughly $602 million in public health grants -- funding disease-outbreak tracking, workforce and infrastructure programs -- to California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota, effective February 11, 2026; the same directive also canceled $943 million in Department of Transportation funding to the same four states. All four states, led by Democratic governors, sued the next day, and a federal judge in Illinois granted a 14-day temporary restraining order on February 12 keeping the health funds flowing while the case proceeds.
Office of Management and Budget ordered agencies to compile detailed federal-funding data on 14 Democratic-led states and D.C.
On January 20, 2026, the White House Office of Management and Budget, led by Director Russell Vought, directed nearly every federal agency to compile detailed spending data — grants, loans, contracts, subcontracts, and other awards — for 13 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., later expanded to include a 14th state. OMB's memo described the review as a "data-gathering exercise" that "does not involve withholding funds," framing NOTUS reported was written specifically to avoid conflicting with a federal judge's ruling days earlier that targeting Democratic states for funding cuts violated the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
2025 Events (5)
Trump White House directed five agencies to condition Colorado funding on political alignment, then cut hundreds of millions
On December 15, 2025, a Trump White House deputy assistant emailed officials at the Departments of Energy, Transportation, Interior, and Agriculture and the Office of Management and Budget, directing them to identify actions "with respect to Colorado" to keep "grants and federal support...in line with administration priorities," hours before President Trump publicly called Colorado Gov. Jared Polis "weak and pathetic" over the imprisonment of former county clerk Tina Peters. In the days that followed, the Department of Energy canceled $615 million in Colorado funding, the Department of Transportation ended $109 million in grants, the Office of Management and Budget moved to close the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, and the Department of Agriculture ordered an accelerated food-assistance recertification review. The email became public on August 11, 2026 at a federal court hearing in Colorado's retaliation lawsuit against the administration, where a judge called it "extraordinary" and ordered the White House to produce more records, while the administration denied the actions were tied to Peters.
OMB Director Vought froze $18 billion in congressionally-appropriated NYC infrastructure funds, citing pretextual DEI review
On October 1, 2025, the first day of the government shutdown, OMB Director Russell Vought announced a freeze of approximately $18 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds earmarked for two major New York City projects — the Gateway Hudson River Tunnel and the Second Avenue Subway extension — claiming a review was needed to ensure funds were not "flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles." The freeze blocked reimbursements already owed, including an immediately due $300 million disbursement, and targeted projects in districts represented by Senate and House Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Critics and legal experts said the DEI rationale was pretextual and that the Impoundment Control Act prohibits such unilateral executive withholding of appropriated funds.
Trump signed EO 14238 directing elimination of USAGM, IMLS, and five other congressionally-created agencies
On March 14, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14238, "Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy," directing seven congressionally-created federal agencies — including the United States Agency for Global Media (parent of Voice of America), the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the CDFI Fund — to eliminate all non-statutory functions and reduce statutory functions to the legal minimum. Each agency head was required to submit a compliance report to the Office of Management and Budget within seven days, and OMB was directed to reject funding requests inconsistent with the elimination mandate. Courts subsequently ruled that several of the closures exceeded executive authority, as only Congress can abolish agencies established by statute.
Acting OMB Director Vaeth issued Memo M-25-13, ordering immediate freeze of all federal grants and loans pending executive-order compliance review
On January 27, 2025, acting OMB Director Matthew Vaeth issued Memorandum M-25-13, directing all federal executive branch agencies to immediately pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of federal financial assistance, effective 5:00 p.m. EST the following day. The directive nominally covered an estimated $3 trillion in annually appropriated federal funds, including grants, loans, foreign aid, DEI programs, and climate initiatives. A district court issued an administrative stay on January 28; OMB rescinded the memo on January 29, though the White House declared the underlying freeze authority remained in force.
Trump signed EO 14151 eliminating all DEI offices, programs, and equity-related grants across the executive branch
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14151, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," directing all executive agencies to terminate their diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, positions, equity action plans, and related grants and contracts within 60 days. The order required agencies to place DEI staff on administrative leave pending termination, to report programs "misleadingly relabeled" to evade compliance, and designated OMB, OPM, and the Attorney General to coordinate agency-wide enforcement. A Maryland federal court issued a preliminary injunction against key provisions on February 21, 2025, which the Fourth Circuit vacated on February 6, 2026.