Watchdog: Trump administration violated Impoundment Act a second time
The Government Accountability Office said Monday that the Trump administration had violated the Impoundment Act by withholding congressionally appropriated funds to the agency responsible for supporting libraries and museums across the country.
The congressional watchdog found that funds were withheld by Institute of Museum and Library Services, with the GAO calling the act a violation of a law that blocks presidents from withholding funding Congress has approved. This is the second time the GAO has told Congress that the administration unlawfully withheld funds after the administration froze funds for electric vehicles, which the White House previously denied.
When asked about the latest GAO finding, the White House Office of Management and Budget referred The Washington Post to its previous response to the GAO's finding about cuts to electric vehicle funding.
'All of OMB's actions have been consistent with the President's authorities under the Constitution and laws,' OMB general counsel Mark Paoletta wrote in a letter last month to GAO.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are feuding with the administration over whether the president can cancel spending without the approval of the legislative branch. The White House has maintained that spending cuts have been in 'full compliance' with federal budget law as it reshaped federal spending through the U.S. DOGE Service changes and executive actions — including halting investments in green energy, aid to foreign nations and grants to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
When asked about investigating the Trump administration's efforts to withhold funding, GAO leader Gene L. Dodaro told senators in April that his office had opened nearly 40 separate inquiries.
Staff from the Institute of Museum and Library Services were placed on administrative leave in April after Trump issued an executive order March 14 to make cuts to the agency. The American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sued the administration in a case that is playing out in a U.S. District Court in D.C.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent government agency, was created in 1996 by an act of Congress and submitted a budget request of $280 million for fiscal 2025. New York, one of the states that opposed the executive order, received $8 million through the institute last year to fund literacy programs for children and adults, improve internet access in libraries and train library employees and pay for the salaries of two-thirds of state library staff, according to the state.
GAO investigators found that the agency's spending has been slashed by more than half in the first five months of this year, according to federal spending data. The finding came from publicly available data because the investigators said the agency has been unresponsive to questions since May.
Democrats have sought to stop the cuts, arguing that grants awarded through agencies such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services have benefited communities directly that might not otherwise have the resources to support their own library and museum programs. Nearly a dozen attorneys general had asked a court to halt Trump's initial executive order on the dismantling of the institute and other independent agencies, arguing that the cuts are unlawful.
Jeff Stein, Carolyn Y. Johnson and Niha Masih contributed to this report.
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