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cerin.bsky.social

@cerin.bsky.social
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
There is one way this pocket rescission is different that folks aren’t talking about yet- OMB officials who prepped it may face personal liability under Sec 739 of Financial Services & General Gov’t Approps Act as @davidasuper.bsky.social and I explained thehill.com/opinion/cong...
thehill.com
Congress rejected some of Trump’s proposed budget cuts. OMB is making them anyway.
President Trump and the Office of Management and Budget are accused of violating the separation of powers by attempting to unilaterally withhold funds that Congress specifically appropriated.
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The so-called pocket rescission proposed by the White House this evening is unlawful and unconstitutional -- and it is not a close call- www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
whitehouse.gov
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This OMB stands alone in intepreting the law the way they have - not only against GAO but also former OMB staff from Democratic and Republican Administrations, non-partisan law professors expert in appropriations, & the history of the law itself. www.gao.gov/products/b-3...
gao.gov
U.S. GAO - Impoundment Control Act--Withholding of Funds through Their Date of Expiration
An "impoundment" is any action or inaction by an officer or employee of the federal government that precludes obligation or expenditure of budget...
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The use of federal resources to make gov sponsored covert comms violates the rider barring use of appropriations for propaganda — someone should ask these folks if they’ve lawyered up yet. ADA liability is personal and can be criminal protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/u...
protectdemocracy.org
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
For folks following the ballroom money trail- OMB apportioned $91.1 million in new funds for the White House Repair and Restoration accounts used to pay for East Wing construction. It’s ‘found this $ in the taxpayers couch cushions’ $ moves - starts w $40M in FY26 funds openomb.org/file/11542275
openomb.org
White House Repair and Restoration | 11542275
Apportionment file 11542275 (White House Repair and Restoration) retrieved from OMB public records
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Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Very important piece by Cerin Lindgrensavage and @davidasuper.bsky.social. This behavior by the administration is not only illegal, it is anti-constitutional. thehill.com/opinion/cong...
thehill.com
Congress rejected some of Trump’s proposed budget cuts. OMB is making them anyway.
President Trump and the Office of Management and Budget are accused of violating the separation of powers by attempting to unilaterally withhold funds that Congress specifically appropriated.
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Some additional thoughts as I'm watching @senatebudget.bsky.social hearing on the nomination of Hal Duncan to serve as OMB Deputy Director - www.budget.senate.gov/hearings/the...
budget.senate.gov
The Nomination of Mr. Hal Duncan, of Texas, to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget | U.S. Senate Committee On The Budget
The Official U.S. Senate Committee On The Budget
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Jeff Lazarus @jlazarus.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
In 1991 White House Chief of Staff John Sununu improperly spent $1.4 million (inflation adjusted) on personal travel. It was a top of the news every night for more than a month & Sununu had to resign. In the second Trump Administration $1.4 million of graft is a rounding error.
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Guess the cost of the move just went up? Now it's $7,895,591 for Ed to move its headquarters... openomb.org/file/1152301...
openomb.org
Program Administration | 11523017
Apportionment file 11523017 (Program Administration) retrieved from OMB public records
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
In other news - OMB apportioning a weirdly specific amount - $5,395,591 - for expenses related to the Department of Education moving headquarters to 500 D Street SW. openomb.org/file/11522585
openomb.org
Program Administration | 11522585
Apportionment file 11522585 (Program Administration) retrieved from OMB public records
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
OMB has taken five separate cuts at the CDFI program. Last week, they walked back one. Four remain — and at least one may expose OMB officials to personal legal liability. Recently I explained the five cuts and how they happened www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/this-is-wh... 🧵
ifyoucankeepit.org
This is what it looks like when OMB kills your program
The anatomy of a murder by five cuts
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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Enormous impoundment-related changes in Trump/Vought's Circular A-11 update from Friday, which is OMB's guidance to agencies They: -removed the definition of impoundment -said GAO's impoundment determinations don't matter -claimed pocket rescission authority -claimed profound deferral authority 🧵
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Agree w/ Sen. Collins "Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.” Impoundment Control Act says $ must be spent UNLESS Congress acts to rescind it - there's no get-out-of-spending-free card for OMB if they submit their paperwork late.
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Seems like a good time to remind folks that sec. 718 of the FY24 FSGG Appropriations Act still applies to FY25 money, and bars the use of funds GOVERNMENT-WIDE “for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States” unless “authorized by Congress.”
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Still making my way through this morning's D.C. Circuit opinion in the foreign aid funding case, but right off the bat am incredibly surprised a court would think the Impoundment Control Act precludes plaintiffs seeking relief when the ICA says the opposite. media.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/doc...
media.cadc.uscourts.gov
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
A DC Circuit appeals panel just unanimously denied OMB’s request for a stay in the @protectdemocracy.org case to get the apportionment website back online- so we can all see how OMB is managing your tax dollars - visibility we need now more than ever. media.cadc.uscourts.gov/orders/docs/...
media.cadc.uscourts.gov
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Stan Veuger @stanveuger.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
I organized an economist amicus brief in V.O.S. Selections Inc. v. Trump, the "Liberation Day" tariffs case in which the government's appeal will soon be considered by the Federal Circuit Appeal Court.
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Anne Joseph O’Connell @ajosephoconnell.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Want to know more about vacancies in Senate-confirmed positions -- their causes, consequences, legal implications, and policy reforms? I wrote a primer aimed at social scientists and those who who like the social sciences. effectivegov.uchicago.edu/primers/bure...
effectivegov.uchicago.edu
Bureaucratic Vacancies
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Read this excerpt of an interview with Jay Bhattacharya, new NIH director. And do not miss the last graf. Via @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...
On a Nature news article reporting that NIH planned to suspend subawards for foreign collaborations:
"No, that's false. There's going to be a policy on tracking subawards. The NIH and the government should be able to see where the money's going."
"I'm really uncomfortable with this conversation, because you're like, actually spreading rumors that you don't know anything about. ... Nature also is spreading rumors. Halt foreign collaborations, that's not true."
"We're working on the policy, Jocelyn. You shouldn't be reporting rumors. I know there's leaks all over here, but the leaks don't actually reflect what's happening.
Don't write about rumors. It actually makes the things that you and I care about worse.
Like it spreads panic."
Later that day, NIH released a policy that halted future subawards to foreign scientists and said they will need to apply directly for money under a system still in development.
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
So great to see the Appropriations Committees - all four of their leaders on the majority and minority side - stand up for the law that requires OMB to make apportionments public. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/u...
nytimes.com
Bipartisan House and Senate Leaders Urge White House to Restore Spending Website
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 25/04/2025
PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081
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CREW @citizensforethics.org · 08/04/2025
The OMB's removal of its apportionment website denies the American public information that is critical to ensuring transparency, ethics and integrity in government. CREW and 9 other organizations urge the OMB to immediately restore this website.
pogo.org
Civil Society Presses for Answers on Apportionment Transparency
Congress should ask: Why did the administration take down an important public database?
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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Here I am this morning in the Washington Post on the Trump Administration's defiance of an "apportionment transparency" law Congress passed to rein in abuses like the first-term Ukraine shakedown. wapo.st/3FXgjey
wapo.st
Opinion | Trump is openly defying a law created to rein in his first-term abuses
Withholding funding led to his first impeachment. Now the White House won’t post its spending moves.
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Edwin Park @edwincpark.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Thread: this flew under the radar but is very concerning. Apportionment involves pro-forma OMB quarterly letters to agencies confirming they can spend $ as appropriated by Congress. OMB has now permanently shuttered the public apportionment website per Politico/letter from OMB to Senator Murray.
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cerin.bsky.social @cerin.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Revisiting this helpful explanation of apportionment from @bbkogan.bsky.social as we go into day 4 of OMB cutting off access to apportionments Congress required the agency to make public.
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Alexander Howard @digiphile.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
The Supreme Court ruled President Trump cannot remove the Director of the Office of Special Counsel, a key watchdog agency, while a legal challenge moves forward. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/u... Unlike AOTUS, US law says POTUS must give a rationale for removing OSC head. Rule of law holds, for now.
-supremecourt.gov
Cite as: 604 U.S. _ (2025)
GoRSUCH, J., dissenting
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 24A790
SCOTT BESSENT, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, ET AL. v. HAMPTON DELLINGER, SPECIAL COUNSEL OF THE OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL
ON APPLICATION TO VACATE THE ORDER ISSUED BY THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
(February 21, 2025]
This matter concerns the President's action to remove Hampton Dellinger from his position as Special Counsel for the Office of Special Counsel. Dellinger challenged his without-cause removal in the District Court for the District of Columbia.
See 5 U.S. C. §1211(b). On February 12,
2025, the District Court entered a temporary restraining order (TRO) providing that Dellinger should remain in office until the court ruled on his motion for a preliminary injunction. The District Court has scheduled a hearing on that motion for February 26, the day that the TRO expires.
See Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 65(b)(2).
Pending before this Court is the Government's application to vacate the TRO. Dellinger has filed a Response in Opposition. The Government then filed a reply. The question is thus fully briefed before this Court.
Although it acknowledges that this Court typically does not have appellate jurisdiction over TROs, the Government urges us to construe the TRO as a preliminary injunction or to exercise jurisdiction under the All Writs Act in light of the core executive power assertedly restrained. Application 31-32; see 28 U.S. C. §1292(a)(1). In his opposition, Dellinger repeatedly notes that the TRO will "expire by its terms (in] eight [now five] days," Response in Opposition 1,
2
BESSENT v. DELLINGER
GoRSUCH, J., dissenting
that it "lasts only for a very short duration," id., at 15, and that it "is set to expire on February 26," id., at 39.
In light of the foregoing, the application to vacate the order of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to t…
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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
OMB director Russ Vought has officially begun carrying out his section of Project 2025. Technical thread to follow, but it’s really important - this is a major path through which the Trump administration will illegally impound funding, refusing to carry out some of our spending laws.
Delegation of Apportionment Authority

I hereby delegate to the Program Associate Directors the authorities delegated by the President to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget for apportioning funds pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 1513(b).

This delegation supersedes any previous delegation of such authority and will remain in place until revised or revoked. The Program Associate Directors may re-delegate this authority as necessary in writing. This delegation does not limit the authority of the Director to exercise the delegated authority.

Russell T. Vought,

Director, Office of Management and Budget.Externally, the Director must ensure that OMB has sufficient visibility into the deep caverns of agency decision-making. One indispensable statutory tool to that end is to ensure that policy officials- the Program Associate Directors (PADs) managing the vast Resource Management Offices (RMOs)-personally sign what are known as the apportionments. In 1870, Congress passed the Anti-Deficiency Act® to prevent the common agency practice of spending down all appropriated funding, creating artificial funding shortfalls that Congress would have to fill. The law mandated that all funding be allotted or "apportioned" in installments. This process, whereby agencies come to OMB for allotments of appropriated funding, is essential to the effective financial stewardship of taxpayer dollars. OMB can then direct on behalf of a President the amount, duration, and purpose of any apportioned funding to ensure against waste, fraud, and abuse and ensure consistency with the President's agenda and applicable laws.
The vast majority of these apportionments were signed by career officials- the Deputy Associate Directors (DADs)-until the Trump Administration placed this responsibility in the hands of the PADs and thereby opened wide vistas of oversight that had escaped the attention of policy officials. The Biden Administration subsequently reversed this decision. No Director should be chosen who is unwilling to restore apportionment decision-making to the PADs' personal review, who is not aggressive in wielding the tool on behalf of the President's agenda, or who is unable to defend the power against attacks from Congress.
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Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Courts *ordered* the Trump admin to stop its spending freeze Yet ProPublica found place after place where $ is still frozen -hot meals for elderly and disabled -groceries for those in need -maternal & child health services -a clinic that serves the poor www.propublica.org/article/trum...
propublica.org
The Courts Blocked Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze. Agencies Are Withholding Money Anyway.
Agencies continue to suspend funding, despite multiple court orders blocking the federal freeze. Experts say the Trump administration’s actions set the stage for challenges to Congress’ authority — an...
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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
So when that happened, the beneficiaries of appropriations that Nixon tried to cut off sued for the money on constitutional grounds, and they generally won. Congress also passed the Impoundment Control Act setting forth specific and very narrow procedures for the executive withholding funds.
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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Brief impoundment backgrounder: The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. Money that Congress appropriates generally must be spent. This wasn’t a big issue until Nixon, who tried to (unconstitutionally) restrict appropriated funding for lots of things and claimed the right to do so.
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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
If you’re not worried about Russ Vought you’re not paying attention www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
washingtonpost.com
Trump loyalist pushes ‘post-Constitutional’ vision for second term
Russ Vought, the former president’s budget director, is laying the groundwork for a broad expansion of presidential powers.
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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Here's Trump's incoming budget director saying the president has the constitutional authority to sign a spending bill into law and then immediately ignore it. A profoundly dangerous worldview that Trump illegally did last time and that he and Vought say they will do again this time.
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Max Berger @maxberger.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Today, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez proposed a new task for to look at electoral reforms which could break up the two party system in Congress, expand the number of House districts, and move the House to a form of proportional representation. It's a very, very good idea.
notus.org
Blue Dogs Propose New Task Force to Look at ‘Winner-Take-All’ Election System
The bipartisan task force would investigate structural reforms like multimember districts and adding more House members in an effort to address growing polarization and distrust of Congress.
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