A controversial idea to hand even more power to the president

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Leading the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) may sound mundane, but the role is one of Washington’s most important. Russell Vought, who did the job for the final two years of Donald Trump’s first term, is poised to return.

After a confirmation vote planned for the coming days, he is expected to test the bounds of presidential power as the new administration tries to reshape the federal government. In his confirmation hearing on January 15th, Mr Vought told senators he would follow through on Mr Trump’s vow to pursue “impoundment". This is the practice of presidents refusing to spend funds that Congress has appropriated, shifting power to the White House.

To take a current example, Mr Trump has issued an executive order putting an “immediate pause" on billions of dollars appropriated under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. No money will go out for current projects—including new roads, bridges and electric-vehicle charging stations—until the administration decides which efforts are “consistent with any review recommendations" Trump officials “have chosen to adopt". The same potentially applies to military aid for Ukraine.

Mr Trump ran “on the issue of impoundment", Mr Vought said at his hearing, and “200 years of presidents have used this authority". He said the Impoundment Control Act (ICA) of 1974, passed to rein in presidents after Richard Nixon held back billions of dollars for education, the armed forces and the environment, was unconstitutional. (It is one of several Watergate-era constraints on the presidency that Mr Trump wants to be rid of.) His inner circle is speaking as one on the matter.