Latest news with #InstituteOfMuseumAndLibraryServices
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
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.
New York Times
6 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Watchdog Finds Trump Administration Broke Law by Withholding Library Funds
The Trump administration broke the law when it withheld funding for the nation's libraries, a nonpartisan government watchdog said on Monday, a finding that inches the White House another step closer to a legal showdown over its powers to reconfigure the country's spending. The decision by the Government Accountability Office was the second time in two months that oversight officials have found fault in the ways that President Trump and his top aides have tried to circumvent lawmakers in their quest to reshape the federal budget so that it conforms with their political views. The inquiry concerned the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which serves as the federal government's primary source of funding for libraries, museums and archives. In March, Mr. Trump sought to sharply curtail the agency as part of an executive order focused on the 'reduction of the federal bureaucracy,' prompting legal challenges from states, librarians and other opponents. The accountability office, an arm of Congress that keeps watch over the nation's spending, concluded on Monday that the library agency ultimately 'ceased performing' its functions after the president's directive, and withheld funding that lawmakers had previously appropriated to carry out its mission. Ethics officials ultimately classified the interruption in aid as an illegal impoundment, which is prohibited under a 1970s law meant to restrict the president and his ability to defy Congress on spending. The White House maintains that those limits are unconstitutional, and the president and his top budget aide, Russell T. Vought, have sought to test that theory as part of their dramatic and chaotic reorganization of the federal government. Earlier this year, the accountability office revealed that it had opened more than three dozen investigations into Mr. Trump's spending activities. It announced the first of those findings in late May, concluding that the administration violated the law when it withheld money under a $5 billion program to expand electric vehicle charging stations. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Washington Post
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Judge says administration can dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday denied a request by the American Library Association to halt the Trump administration's further dismantling of an agency that funds and promotes libraries across the country, saying that recent court decisions suggested his court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon had previously agreed to temporarily block the Republican administration, saying that plaintiffs were likely to show that Trump doesn't have the legal authority to unilaterally shutter the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which was created by Congress.
The Independent
07-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Judge says administration can dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services
A federal judge on Friday denied a request by the American Library Association to halt the Trump administration's further dismantling of an agency that funds and promotes libraries across the country, saying that recent court decisions suggested his court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon had previously agreed to temporarily block the Republican administration, saying that plaintiffs were likely to show that Trump doesn't have the legal authority to unilaterally shutter the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which was created by Congress. But in Friday's ruling, Leon wrote that as much as the 'Court laments the Executive Branch's efforts to cut off this lifeline for libraries and museums,' recent court decisions suggested that the case should be heard in a separate court dedicated to contractual claims. He cited the Supreme Court 's decision allowing the administration to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in teacher-training money despite a lower court order barring the cuts, saying that cases seeking reinstatement of federal grants should be heard in the Court of Federal Claims. The American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a lawsuit to stop the administration from gutting the institute after President Donald Trump signed a March 14 executive order that refers to it and several other federal agencies as 'unnecessary.' The agency's appointed acting director then placed many agency staff members on administrative leave, sent termination notices to most of them, began canceling grants and contracts and fired all members of the National Museum and Library Services Board. The institute has roughly 75 employees and issued more than $266 million in grants last year. However, a Rhode Island judge's order prohibiting the government from shutting down the museum and library services institute in a separate case brought by several states remains in place. The administration is appealing that order as well.
Associated Press
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Judge says administration can dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday denied a request by the American Library Association to halt the Trump administration's further dismantling of an agency that funds and promotes libraries across the country, saying that recent court decisions suggested his court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon had previously agreed to temporarily block the Republican administration, saying that plaintiffs were likely to show that Trump doesn't have the legal authority to unilaterally shutter the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which was created by Congress. But in Friday's ruling, Leon wrote that as much as the 'Court laments the Executive Branch's efforts to cut off this lifeline for libraries and museums,' recent court decisions suggested that the case should be heard in a separate court dedicated to contractual claims. He cited the Supreme Court's decision allowing the administration to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in teacher-training money despite a lower court order barring the cuts, saying that cases seeking reinstatement of federal grants should be heard in the Court of Federal Claims. The American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a lawsuit to stop the administration from gutting the institute after President Donald Trump signed a March 14 executive order that refers to it and several other federal agencies as 'unnecessary.' The agency's appointed acting director then placed many agency staff members on administrative leave, sent termination notices to most of them, began canceling grants and contracts and fired all members of the National Museum and Library Services Board. The institute has roughly 75 employees and issued more than $266 million in grants last year. However, a Rhode Island judge's order prohibiting the government from shutting down the museum and library services institute in a separate case brought by several states remains in place. The administration is appealing that order as well.
