Lawmakers in charge of funding the government grilled President Donald Trump’s budget director on Wednesday about why he hasn’t yet sent a full request to Congress.
With less than four months left in the fiscal year — and until the next government shutdown deadline — White House budget director Russ Vought has yet to deliver key pieces of Trump’s budget request to guide Congress’ future funding decisions. And even Republicans on Capitol Hill are publicly complaining.
“Where’s the budget?” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) pressed Vought during the budget director’s testimony before House appropriators.
Vought reiterated that he plans to send the full budget request once Republicans clear the party-line tax and spending package they are trying to enact this summer. But he told appropriators that they have “all of the information that is needed to be able to write those bills” to fund the government for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
Republican appropriators, who are preparing to mark up the first of those bills later this week, aren’t convinced. Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) told Vought the delay “really puts us up against the wall.”
“We don’t need another CR,” Alford said, referring to the prospect of a continuing resolution that keeps federal funding on autopilot. “And we don’t need a government shutdown. That will not be good for the president. It will not be good for Congress. It will not be good for America.”
Last week Vought sent a 1,200-page appendix, with detailed totals expanding on Trump’s earlier “skinny budget” delivered in May, to help guide lawmakers as they draft the 12 bills Congress has to clear each year to keep the federal government funded. But funding details for the Pentagon were lacking, including details like how many ships or aircraft the Pentagon aims to buy or what major weapons systems would be cut.
Vought is also holding back other essential pieces of Trump’s budget, such as projections for deficits and economic growth.
