Budget Hearing of the Office of Management and Budget Notes

Opening Statements

• The hearing focuses on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its role in the executive branch, especially concerning the federal budget.
• Legislative days are allocated for members to revise remarks and include additional material.

Chairman's Opening Statement

• Acknowledges Director Vogt's presence.
• Highlights OMB's central role in executive branch decisions, particularly concerning the federal budget.
• Notes that OMB was created by Congress through the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, initially as the Bureau of Budget under the Department of Treasury.
• Mentions the reorganization act of 1939, which relocated the bureau to the Executive Office of the President.
• In 1970, the bureau was renamed the Office of Management and Budget.
• Emphasizes OMB's responsibility for fulfilling the president's policies.
• Highlights OMB's role in reconciliation negotiations, budget submissions, and reshaping the federal government over the past 100+ days.
• Notes that as of May 27, 157 executive orders and 62 proclamations have been signed by the president, with OMB playing a critical role in each decision.
• Stresses the importance of collaboration between Congress and OMB to ensure funds are used as intended.
• Explains that the president's budget helps Congress understand agency priorities and facilitates collaboration between the legislative and executive branches.
• States that OMB is requesting $146,100,000.0$ for the next fiscal year which is a $13.3\%$ increase above its FY 2025 enacted level.

Ranking Member's Opening Statement

• Expresses strong disagreement with Director Vogt's agenda, calling it a danger to the country, the Constitution, and the people.
• Accuses the administration of marginalizing Congress and establishing an "imperial presence".
• Claims Director Vogt's actions mirror those during Trump's first term and align with the Project Twenty Twenty-Five chapter and a 2023 speech to members of the MAGA right.
• Condemns the administration's view of federal employees as "villains" and expresses concern over the desire to "traumatically affect" them.
• Questions whether doctors, scientists, and cancer researchers fired from NIH were considered villains.
• Raises concerns about the dismissal of employees from NOAA, food inspectors, intelligence officers, national park rangers, and first responders.
• Mentions an email seeking the decision to leave federal service from over 2 million employees.
• Shares stories of Marylanders, Caitlin and Monique, who suffered due to stress and actions taken by the administration.
• Argues that the administration's treatment of employees has reduced efficiency and increased backlogs at agencies like the Social Security Administration and the VA.
• Points out that one of the first actions of OMB under Trump was to pause all federal loans and grants, freezing infrastructure projects.
• States the belief that the administration has traumatized Americans, reduced efficiency, broken the law, and trampled on Congress's authority.
• Suggests that Director Vogt will play an even larger role in these efforts.
• Requests that Director Vogt address the concerns of the American people and provide answers to their questions.

Ranking Member of the Full Committee's Opening Remarks

• Thanks Chairman Joyce and Ranking Member Hoyer for holding the hearing.
• Welcomes Director Vogt and acknowledges the OMB is a critical agency that most people have never heard of.
• Emphasizes that disagreement with the law does not justify ignoring or violating it.
• Accuses the administration of worsening the cost of living crisis and placing billionaires in charge of the government.
• Claims the administration is unlawfully impounding funds and dismantling agencies.
• Accuses Director Vogt of supporting autocracy rather than limited government.
• States that Director Vogt has shown disregard and disrespect for the committee, Congress, and the laws.
• Criticizes the president for stating that Director Vogt would "return self-governance to the people" while allegedly demonstrating contempt for taxpayers.
• Notes that the president has yet to submit a full budget under Director Vogt's leadership.
• Highlights Director Vogt's role as acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and criticizes the increase in credit card bills due to reinstated predatory fees.
• Accuses Director Vogt of ignoring requests for information from Congress and mocking the Government Accountability Office.
• Asserts that the Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse.
• Quotes Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Kavanaugh, and Chief Justice Roberts on the limits of presidential authority to impound funds.
• References Alexander Hamilton on the importance of the purse being lodged in one branch and the sword in another.
• Claims that Director Vogt's position is based on a "legal and historical fiction".
• States that the courts have broadly and unequivocally rejected the administration's attempts to unilaterally unfreeze funding across the government.
• Points to Project Twenty Twenty-Five as a blueprint for concentrating absolute power in the White House and in Director Vogt's hands.
• Accuses Director Vogt of wanting to traumatize federal employees to make the government more efficient.
• Argues that the goal is to create a broken and dysfunctional government that is starved of resources and full of incompetent political appointees.
• Concludes that the administration's primary objectives are waste, fraud, and abuse, not targeting them.