01/16/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/16/2025 14:12
[WASHINGTON, DC] - In case you missed it, during this week's Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the nomination of Russell Vought to serve as Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), pressed Vought on whether President-elect Trump's administration will release Ukraine aid authorized and approved by Congress. Vought refused to commit to doing so when asked by Blumenthal, calling into question whether the incoming administration will defy current law that requires presidents to spend money as directed by Congress.
Text of Blumenthal's exchange with Vought is copied below. Video of Blumenthal's remarks is available for download here.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your service, Mr. Vought, and your willingness to come back. Thank you also to your family.
As you know, in the closing days of the last session, the United States Congress, by overwhelming majorities, approved disaster relief funding going to the Department of Agriculture as well as FEMA, for disaster relief all around the country. Will you commit to releasing those funds promptly and fully to the areas that depend on that disaster relief funding?
Mr. Russell Vought: We will continue to release the money that has appropriately been funded for these areas, as we always have with regard to the FEMA dollars.
Blumenthal: So, the answer is yes?
Vought: Yes, we will continue to -
Blumenthal: Well, you won't continue because you are not yet in office. You will release that money fully and promptly to the agencies that can provide that relief. For example, the $31 billion, I believe it is, for the Army Corps and the Agriculture Department, the $2.2 billion for the Small Business Administration, $29 billion for FEMA, these are specific amounts. How about the $3.8 billion left for security assistance to Ukraine, will you release that money?
Vought: Again, Senator, I'm not going to get ahead of the policy process of the incoming administration, but when it comes to responding to the disasters, the President has always been someone that cares deeply about these areas -
Blumenthal: Well, I am talking about the Ukraine funding, which I believe is essential, the Congress believed it's vital. It has been authorized and appropriated. Will you release that remaining $3.8 billion?
Vought: Again, Senator, I'm not going to get ahead of the President on a foreign policy issue of the magnitude of the situation with regard to Ukraine-
Blumenthal: Let me ask you, do you believe the Impoundment Control Act is constitutional?
Vought: No, I do not believe it's constitutional. The President ran on that view. That's his view, and I agree with him.
Blumenthal: Have you read Train v. New York? That's the United States Supreme Court saying it is constitutional. You are saying that you are just going to defy the Courts, the Office of Legal Counsel under both administrations, including then-Attorney Rehnquist, afterward becoming Supreme Court Justice, wrote for the Office of Legal Counsel, you are simply going to take the law into your own hands?
Vought: I did not say that nor did I imply that on behalf of the incoming administration. I said earlier to a question from Senator Peters, that the incoming administration was going to have to take the President's view on this as he stated on the campaign, work it through with the lawyers of the Department of Justice, some of whom are coming before Congress just today, if confirmed, and to put that through a policy process. I can't prejudge that policy process, but I certainly can announce the parameters of what it would produce.
Blumenthal: I am astonished and aghast that someone in this responsible a position would, in effect, say that the President is above the law and that the United States Supreme Court is entitled to their opinion, but mine should supersede it. It is just baffling that we are in this, I think, unprecedented moment in the history of this country. And I think our colleagues should be equally aghast, because this issue goes beyond Republican or Democrat. It is bigger than one administration or another. It is whether the law of the land should prevail or maybe it's up for grabs depending on what the President thinks. I think it is fundamental, and I hope you will reconsider this view. And I am going to put it in a question for the record, to give you an opportunity to recast your answer-which I think should be disqualifying for both sides of the aisle, frankly, because what goes around comes around. The next administration could be democratic, could be independent. But the Supreme Court in Train v. New York said it's constitutional. That's been the clear consensus.
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