Millions of Americans this week found out what it means to have Russell Vought, the nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in Donald Trump’s White House. The pause on federal grants that Trump issued Tuesday, which sent panic spasming through the country as schools, government programs, and charitable organizations ceased to function, is being credited to Vought and Project 2025, the right-wing policy blueprint he’s considered the architect of.
Vought’s Trump-aligned think tank, the Center for Renewing America (CRA), has repeatedly advanced the view that the president can pause federally mandated funding or even refuse to spend it through “impoundment.” (Each of those arguments was once made at the think tank by former CRA senior fellow Mark Paoletta, who, thanks to Trump, is now general counsel at the OMB, which issued the pause.) Meanwhile, both the Project 2025 policy guide and the CRA’s mock budget are replete with proposals to cut or overhaul federal grants and make sure they aren’t funding “woke” programs and groups.
The unprecedented move has already been the scene of typical Trump chaos: it was first blocked by a federal judge, before the administration modified the order, rescinded it, then rescinded its rescission, leading a different judge to issue a new block on it. That itself may be part of the plan: Vought and Paoletta have both insisted the law barring impoundment is unconstitutional, and may want a right-wing activist Supreme Court to settle the matter. As the CRA’s staff wrote about a potential fight between the legislative and executive branches over the issue, “it will be a fight that is both necessary and long overdue.”
But if this major chaos-causing Trump move can be…
Auteur: Branko Marcetic
