Congress is growing increasingly frustrated with a powerful oversight agency that has identified illegal funding moves by the White House but refuses to act.
The Government Accountability Office concluded this week that the White House illegally withheld more than $1 billion earmarked for education and health care research programs.
That finding is the latest in more than half a dozen similar rulings the GAO has published since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in office.
Despite having the legal authority to sue the president over these so-called impoundments, the agency has not filed any court challenges against the administration.
The GAO is currently led by acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, following the retirement of her predecessor after a 15-year tenure.
Lawmakers from both parties fear that Brown, serving in an interim capacity, is reluctant to take the dramatic step of filing suit against the Trump administration without formal congressional authorization.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, made her concerns about the agency’s inaction clear to reporters this week.
“They are empowered to sue,” Collins said. “I think the biggest problem is that we have an acting director of the GAO, who understandably is wary of suing the administration without direct congressional approval.”
Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota was equally blunt in expressing his displeasure with the watchdog agency’s hesitation to confront the White House.
“I’m very disappointed in their action here, and it will have to be rectified,” Rounds said, underscoring the mounting congressional pressure on the GAO to take legal action.
A GAO spokesperson responded to the criticism by stating that the agency “has not made a decision to file any lawsuits at this time,” offering no indication of when that position might change.
The search for a permanent comptroller general who could more aggressively challenge the Trump administration’s funding decisions has made little visible progress.
A designated group of 10 senior lawmakers is tasked with identifying replacement candidates to recommend for a Trump nomination, but those members have yet to hold a single meeting.
Nine months have passed since former Comptroller General Gene Dodaro departed at the conclusion of his 15-year term, leaving the agency without permanent, confirmed leadership.
The Washington Sun has reported that the administration floated the idea of nominating Eric Ueland, a top official at the White House budget office and former longtime Senate aide, to lead the GAO.
If Ueland were nominated, there is no certainty he would survive confirmation in a narrowly divided Senate, given perceptions about his loyalty to President Trump.
Critics worry that a Trump-aligned nominee would be unlikely to challenge the administration’s funding decisions, undermining the GAO’s independence as a nonpartisan oversight body.
Top administration officials and certain Republican members of Congress have publicly characterized the GAO as a partisan and noncredible agency since Trump returned to office.
Dodaro himself weighed in on the legal questions surrounding the watchdog’s authority, noting that “the law is very clear that GAO’s ability to sue doesn’t preclude anybody else from suing.”
With no permanent leader in place and a White House actively dismissing the agency’s conclusions, the GAO’s role as an effective check on executive spending power remains very much in question.
