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Russell Vought Grilled by Lawmakers over Impoundment and the Power of the Purse

November 17, 2025 · Forbes Breaking News · 2:22:06

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What happened

The Forbes Breaking News ‘Rewind 2025’ compilation gathers hearing moments in which Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought was questioned by lawmakers. In the House Appropriations Committee portion, the ranking member accused Vought, as she stated it, of thwarting and ignoring the law — arguing that disagreement with a law confers no license to ignore it — and charged that the administration was unlawfully impounding or stealing funds and dismantling agencies Congress created and funded.

She argued, as she stated it, that the Constitution confers the power of the purse on Congress under Article I, Section 9, Clause 7, that the courts have repeatedly ruled there is no inherent presidential authority to impound funds, and that the courts had rebuked the administration’s funding freeze again and again. She also accused Vought of fashioning himself acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and of reinstating fees that raised credit card bills for at least 45 million Americans, as she stated the figure.

In a Senate-style exchange in the compilation, a lawmaker pressed Vought on his 2023 Center for Renewing America budget proposal to end ‘woke and weaponized government,’ asking whether cutting SNAP, Pell grants, Medicaid, and rental assistance was what he meant. Vought answered, as he stated it, that he was not there to talk about the Center’s budget, that ‘weaponized’ referred to bureaucracies, and that he was appearing on behalf of the President; in another exchange he confirmed, as the record shows, that the President supports the big bill passed out of the House and does not support cutting Medicare.

Why it matters

The compilation is the fullest single record in this chunk of the central constitutional fight over Vought’s OMB — impoundment and the power of the purse — with the Director absorbing the attacks that defined his 2025 on Capitol Hill.

Sources: Forbes Breaking News, “‘Your Words, Quote…’: Russell Vought Gets Sent Through The Wringer By Lawmakers | Rewind 2025”, 2025-11-17 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-11-17). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.