GAO Makes Official What's Been Obvious: Trump Admin Is Breaking Impoundment Control Act

Yahoo

23-05-2025

The independent agency embedded within the legislative branch that is designed to review federal spending and make recommendations to Congress on cost savings and waste, as well as investigate policy implementation (the real one, not DOGE), has released a new finding that none of us will find surprising.
As part of its 39 different investigations into various actions the Trump administration has taken in the last four months that could qualify as Impoundment Control Act violations, the Government Accountability Office determined this afternoon that the Trump administration has, in fact, done just that.
The congressional watchdog found that the Department of Transportation illegally withheld funds when it paused a Biden-era initiative to expand charging stations for electric vehicles across the nation in February. The $5 billion initiative was originally put in motion by the Transportation Department as part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, an element of the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress under President Biden.
Trump's Transportation Department, however, froze the $5 billion in funding to the project as part of DOGE's rampage through the executive branch. The DOT has claimed that it placed a pause on the funds while it writes new rules for how to disperse the grant money.
The Office of Government Accountability was not persuaded by the Trump administration's argument and said that if the new administration wants to make funding changes to the EV charging station program, it needs to — you guessed it — send Congress a rescission package. Or suggest new legislation for Congress to consider. Here's the exact language from the GAO ruling:
DOT is not authorized to withhold these funds from expenditure and DOT must continue to carry out the statutory requirements of the program. While DOT cannot withhold these funds under the ICA, DOT could propose funds for rescission or otherwise propose legislation to make changes to the NEVI Formula Program for consideration by Congress.
You can read a more detailed breakdown of the findings here.
Big picture, the non-partisan congressional watchdog is expected to issue more rulings in coming months as it works its way through nearly 40 other similar investigations into whether the Trump administration has violated the 51-year-old law in other ways. The Trump White House has already called the GAO finding 'wrong' and GAO opinions are, in general, considered nonbinding recommendations to Congress. Such a finding might matter more in an era where congressional Republicans were not already so willing to choke down all of Trump's DOGE cuts.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) put out a compelling statement in response to the ruling saying it 'affirms what we've long known: the President is breaking the law to block funding Congress passed on a bipartisan basis and that is owed to the American people — simply because he disagrees with it.'
By now, you've seen the news: the Trump administration is attempting to end Harvard's ability to enroll international students, which make up almost a third of the student population at the university that has thus far not given into Trump's attempts to bend it to his will. The school gave the Times the following statement:
'We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard's ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the university — and this nation — immeasurably,' said Jason Newton, the university's director of media relations. 'We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission.'
President Donald Trump is urging the Senate to act on the House-passed reconciliation package 'as soon as possible.' House Republicans narrowly passed their bill — that includes massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP — early this morning after weeks of intraparty fighting that culminated in a Trump intervention this week.
But the 'big, beautiful bill' is expected to face major challenges in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is reportedly privately meeting with senators who are against the package's sweeping cuts to Medicaid. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has been very vocal about his opposition to cuts to the social safety net program for weeks. And the Hill is reporting that a group of five to seven Republican senators are concerned about the Medicaid reforms included in the House's reconciliation package.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has already said he is a 'no' on the bill in its current form, as it does not do enough to address the deficit. Senate Republican leadership is considering taking the House's package and chopping it up into pieces to make it easier to pass.
One thing is certain: the problems that plagued the bill's passage in the House aren't going anywhere. And there will be changes to the bill's text once the upper chamber gets its hands on it.
— Emine Yücel
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