New Haven Independent
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WASHINGTON — As the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro has an outsized role in determining what programs the federal government spends its money on.
But since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, she’s spending her time making sure that money is actually being spent.
DeLauro is on a mission to get the White House to use all the funding approved by Congress on the programs lawmakers approved. Instead, Trump has refused to fund programs approved by Congress and signed into law.
“What they are doing is illegal,” DeLauro said in an interview at the U.S. Capitol.
“What President Trump and the House Republicans are doing is stealing appropriated dollars — that’s the taxpayer dollars — that were congressionally directed, passed in the House and the Senate, signed by the president, and just taking them for their own purposes in order for them to have dollars for tax cuts for the rich, wealthiest, and billionaires and for the the biggest corporations in the country,” DeLauro said.
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment.
The funding freezes to date have blocked more than $425 billion in spending, according to DeLauro and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
DeLauro and Murray have posted an online tracker to highlight which programs and agencies are not getting the funding that Congress approved. They regularly update it with the latest numbers.
”No American president has ever so flagrantly ignored our nation’s spending laws or so brazenly denied the American people investments they are owed,” the two women said.
DeLauro has returned to this theme over and over again.
“There is no inherent authority for the president to impound or steal funds and never has been,” she said on the House floor last week. “Over 200 years of American history say so. Our founding fathers designed our government so.”
At the House Rules Committee, she said: “Since taking office, the Trump administration has unlawfully stolen funds appropriated by Congress, passed by Republicans and Democrats in the House and in the Senate and signed into law by the president, upending the separation of powers and our Constitutional order. My colleagues, there is no inherent authority for the president to impound and never has been.”
Trump and his budget director, Russell Vought, insist that the 1974 law preventing the president from refusing to spend congressionally approved funds without following specific procedures, the Impoundment Control Act, is unconstitutional. They have insisted on the right to unilaterally block funding.
But the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the congressional watchdog agency that is investigating more than three dozen Trump administration funding freezes, said otherwise.
The GAO said Monday that the president wrongly blocked $30 million for the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences, which provides aid to local libraries across the country.
“This is not complicated: Congress passed, and the president signed into law, billions in investments in critical infrastructure and support for communities across the country — such as critical funding that the Institute of Museum and Library Services owes to public libraries across the country — and those promises must be delivered,” DeLauro said in a statement after the GAO ruling.
The GAO last month said Trump violated the law when he cut off $3.2 billion in funding to build electric vehicle charging stations.
And the watchdog said OMB violated the law when it took down the website listing what the government spent taxpayer dollars on.
“They’re supposed to spend it in this way,” DeLauro said. “They are also supposed to – which they’re violating the law -– be transparent so that we know how the dollars are being spent, when they’re going out, etc. They pulled that website down, which is in violation of the law, and they continue to look at stealing [the appropriations].”
DeLauro said highlighting this issue might convince some members of the House Republican majority to join her in opposing Trump’s actions.
“We’re going to have the opportunity to stand up and fight back,” DeLauro said. “My hope is that some of my Republican colleagues will understand that the power of the purse is being destroyed and taken away from the Congress.”
Ms. DeLauro is correct about the “power of the purse,” and much of what President Trump has done in his first 100 days will be found unconstitutional as it works its way through the courts. That said, neither Congress nor our President should be allowed to sell our children into debt!!! Leaders in the private sector have warned Congress (for decades) about our spending problem. Maybe it’s time to act. We need new laws that FORCE Congress to spend only what we expect to collect in taxes, i.e., a balanced budget with ZERO deficit spending.
Ray Dalio’s new book, “How Countries Go Broke,” should be required reading for all politicians and perhaps even for all Americans who do not understand how large national debts can harm our country by weakening our private sector and currency. If politicians do not grasp macroeconomics, they should be compelled to take mandatory classes until they do. You can’t run a country without understanding economics.
Mr. Dalio’s book also proposes a solution. The “3 % Solution” refers to a strategy aimed at stabilizing the U.S. fiscal situation by reducing the annual federal deficit to 3 % of GDP.
Dalio warns that deficits above ~6% of GDP risk triggering a debt crisis or “financial heart attack” from rising interest costs. A stable 3% deficit is considered a threshold where debt growth becomes manageable. This should be THE LAW (except for wartime or major disaster events).
It is common sense: stop spending more than you can reasonably afford or collect in taxes! Trust me, the capital, innovation, and importantly, entrepreneurs (the engine of growth) will find other places to grow if we don’t fix this issue, and if we don’t fix it, the dollar will collapse.
I have a big problem with well connected politicians like Rosa saying Trump is stealing money. That hyperbole is neither accurate nor truthful. There is a legitimate question of whether he can unilaterally cut the budget notwithstanding the recission bills that will be coming through Congress this Summer. But that’s not stealing. In fact none of the money has been reappropriated to other expenditures. And none of it is in Trump’s pocket. Where’s the stealing? It should also be noteworthy that Rosa has gotten quite wealthy, like Pelosi and other political leaders during her decades in Congress. So have NGOs connected to democrats here and around the globe. Want theft? $8 million to transgender mice; $22 billion to provide free housing and cars to illegal immigrants; $10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique to name a few. The spending Rosa’s defending is grotesque and torturous in trying to tie that back to the public good.
Congress has the power of the purse, and that’s what we elect them to do. The Executive Branch does not have the right to override and seize and redirect the funds that Congress has approved and allocated.
The Congress also has the power to approve going to war, and to make laws, and to approve the mass firings/layoffs and dismantling or creation of departments, the President and the illegally created DOGE and his cabinet do not have the power to do whatever they want and ignore Congress or the Judicial Branch.
If the voters want changes, they have the right to vote out the political leadership in Congress and also the President.
The Congress and the Courts better put in some checks and balances to put the Executive Branch back in its place, or the Legislative and Executive branches are going to be very sorry when the voters turn the tables and vote them out in the next two elections.
It’s not a Republican thing or a Democrat thing, it’s an American Democratic Republic under the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights and our system of laws regarding the three coequal branches of government thing.
Rosa DeLauro owes the public an explanation for the outrageous spending decisions made by the appropriations committee, squandering our already strained tax dollars. Any reasonable person would be ashamed to face the public after DOGE exposed where our money was going. Instead, they deflect, ignoring their reckless spending and somehow spinning it into an attack on Trump. They want to pose as heroes of humanity while burning through funds faster than a street racer running red lights. I don’t support cutting some of these programs, but Trump isn’t the culprit—Rosa DeLauro is. It’s simple: you don’t give more money to a gambling addict who’s proven they’ll blow it, even if you promised it. She should be mortified. Just own up, apologize for treating our tax dollars like your personal slush fund, and admit you got caught. Now, everyone pays the price.
Justin Higgins, public sector accounting is weird (speaking as a long-time denizen of the public sector. :disguised_face:) If I write a $20,000 check as a downpayment on a house, it shows up as an expense. But also as an asset. I am no less wealthy for having written the check, although the $20,000 is now much less liquid. If the federal government spends $20 million to buy land to expand a national park, it is not viewed as a financial asset. The federal government has a readily accessible, albeit voluminous, operating budget. A comprehensive statement of assets and liabilities, not so much. Obviously, accounting for the economic value of investments such as research and development is much harder. But conventional accounting effectively imputes a $0 value.
OCD, you’re correct that “stealing” is the wrong term. What Trump is doing is wrong and IMO unconstitutional, but it is not a crime. “Misappropriating” comes closer. He is in fact trying to reallocate money.
Leave it to a democrat to howl about CUTTING ANY SPENDING. A lifetime of living off taxpayers is Rosa’s gig. The only thing worse is the local mayor who wants to take her seat!!!
Unfortunately, voters themselves are to blame for the government’s exploding deficit. As long as careerist politicians like DeLauro bring home tax dollars to spend on cool stuff, voters are willing to overlook the long-term negative consequences, as well as the fact that politicians like DeLauro have leveraged their office into massive personal wealth. DeLauro has been able to successfully deflect attention away from her own odious abuse of power by complaining incessantly about the GOP’s alleged “tax breaks for corporations and the rich”. Her purple hair, unique outfits and strident tirades skillfully complete her smokescreen technique. When asked about her opinion regarding term limits, DeLauro merely points that that they already exist via biennial elections. Of course, this likewise deflects from the fact that our corrupt election system makes it nearly impossible to get rid of incumbents or to have more than 2 viable political parties. A constitutional amendment limiting Senators and Representatives to a maximum of 2 terms would fix so many problems, from government corruption to massive deficits. However, our Constitution makes it rather difficult to pass amendments. Fortunately, this prevents the addition of trendy au courant amendments but ensures that those actually added ultimately have enduring value.
She says ” the president signed off on these expenditures. We didn’t have a president. We had a figurehead guided by others in the DNC and machine that signed his name. I have doubts he has any idea what he signed.
We don’t have a spending problem at the federal government, we have a revenue problem.
For too many years the rich have not paid their share of the cost of running this Country.
About 50 of Americas’ largest cor[orations paid -0- federal income tax last year.
Think of Government like an insurance company. You pay for its protection, The premium is called taxes.
With an insurance company your premium is calculated based upon the value of your assets they insure.
A $200,000 house pays a smaller premium than a $1,000,000 house.
Not so with the cost of government. The rich pay way less proportionately to their net worth than average people. The rich get a very big discount on their Government “insurance”
It’s the Golden rule,those with the gold make then rules.
The CNH has had multiple spending freezes during my lifetime, the State of Connecticut has had spending freezes in my lifetime (remember John Rowland mid year rescission cuts to towns and municipalities). The initial appropriations were approved by the respective governing bodies. Where were the politicians or for that matter the media in claiming such cuts were against the law? No where to be seen. Both governments had layoffs in the past, where were the politicians or for that matter the media claiming such layoffs were against the law? What makes this any different? Must be the man in charge! One thing the dems do so well is whine. And convince others that whatever they say must be right.
@RegularJoe. I wish it were that easy. Experts in this area (Dalio and others) have accurately calculated that, due to the size of the national debt (approximately $37 trillion), we have both a revenue AND spending problem (due to interest on past debt, etc.). Remember, we MUST pay back both interest AND principal. Additionally, private debt holders and foreign debt holders can sell our debt (think a run on the bank) if they believe we can’t pay. For example, they would rather take 50 cents on the dollar vs zero (non-payment). If that happens, the dollar will collapse—every American loses wealth, and our financial assets become far less valuable—it’s not pretty. However, we can manage it with responsible policies—we should start with balanced budgets and then deleverage the longest-term debts, allowing us to control earlier interest payments more predictably. Staying in control of the deleveraging is key to our children’s future.
Justin Higgins; I never suggested it would be easy. This administration doesn’t care about running up the debt. Trump ran up debt as a regular business practice… and filed for bankruptsy…5 times.
Do you think the administration is serious about revenue collection when they assign IRS Special agents, the men and women whose job is to catch tax evaders, to chase down hapless immigrants at Home Depot parking lots and lettuce farms?
When a tax law is adopted “for transactions after March 17…” you can be sure some rich dude or corporation did something no longer acceptable on March 16. The Golden rule!
@RegularJoe – What I mean by “not that easy” is that you can’t simply raise taxes to fix the issue; it will also require painful deleveraging of debt and international co-operation with trading partners and foreign holders of our debts.
I agree with you: every administration that failed to maintain balanced budgets and significantly increased the national debt (including President Trump) is, by definition, part of the problem because their deficit budgets worsen the core issue—adding more to the debt or, more simply, spending money we NEVER had to begin with—we borrowed it. Therefore, their legacies should be viewed in history as legacies of debt (and nothing more).
If we equitably taxed everyone including online commerce and wealthy individuals and corporations, and didn’t have so many tax loopholes for the rich, we would have enough money for the essential social services and government supports that most EU countries enjoy.
And if we stopped funneling so much of our tax dollars into the military industrial complex and prison industrial complex, we could afford to do so much more.
We just have to decide that our priorities for our tax dollars is for the benefit of helping We The People, to have childcare, education, healthcare, housing, decent food, and not Them, the corporations and the military contractors and the prisons for profit and the rich corporations that are ripping us off and poisoning our food and water and air to make themselves rich.
@Heather. I agree that “we the people” need to prioritize, but unfortunately, we do that by electing politicians who make the big decisions affecting everyone, like broad tax hikes or major spending cuts. It seems the system of Democrats and Republicans compromising has fallen apart since the Obama era. Politicians are also the ones borrowing money (technically, private sector banking deposits, as they don’t literally print money; instead, they borrow it through debt instruments, with approximately $10 trillion needing refinancing each year.
Unfortunately, if we do not start deleveraging out of debt (immediately) and then stick to balanced budgets for about 20-30 years, then deficit spending will absorb any future tax increases. Essentially, all the “new tax money” will be used to pay the debts (interest and some principal as U.S. debt will be sold) of the past two generations. The compounding interest on the debt will grow faster than the revenue until it defaults, at which point society rapidly devolves.
In essence, we must 1) grow the economy and become even more productive, 2) pass only balanced budgets, and 3) pay down contractual debt until the deficits are around 3% of GDP, which is sustainable (for reference, we are around 6% now). This DOES NOT mean we cut all government expenses programs by 50%. In fact, if we did that, we would cause significant damage to the private sector; however, it does mean we need to cut spending, raise taxes, restructure debt, eliminate waste and fraud, and take long-term planning seriously. When was the last time we saw a 30-year plan from either party?
Rosa, you are a protected political class in ye olde quaint, New England Connecticut, a place where Democrats go to succeed, are in office until they pass on, in a place with one party rule (D), and a place where Democracy goes to die. This closed door culture has sparked a crisis for conservative voters in CT. Conservative CT tax payers, already burdened with some of the highest taxes in the nation, now face “taxation without representation”. With the Republican party leadership unresponsive and the party losing 31 legislative seats in 2024, the party is very happy with second place and there is no credible opposition to the one-party rule. Conservative voters feel powerless and shut out from the party process which is closed and, hence, no meaningful representation in Hartford. 386 (D) seats went unopposed in the 2024 election, yea, 386, and the republican party sat on their butts without a care in the world. So yes Rosa, you can say and do as you please without any worry about your seat because it will be there for as long as you want it.
Ms. DeLauro was helpful as a public servant, a true guardian of New Haven and The State of Connecticut, even The US Republic, as well as being a very colorful person back in the Twenty-teens.
Now Ms. DeLauro is just colorful while Mr. Orwell is rolling over.
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