cerin.bsky.social
LightNews LightNews
cerin.bsky.social
@cerin.bsky.social
69 followers 390 following 19 posts
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
bbkogan.bsky.social
Enormous impoundment-related changes in Trump/Vought's Circular A-11 update from Friday, which is OMB's guidance to agencies

They:
-removed the definition of impoundment
-said GAO's impoundment determinations don't matter
-claimed pocket rescission authority
-claimed profound deferral authority

🧵
September 1, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Agree w/ Sen. Collins "Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.”

Impoundment Control Act says $ must be spent UNLESS Congress acts to rescind it - there's no get-out-of-spending-free card for OMB if they submit their paperwork late.
August 29, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Seems like a good time to remind folks that sec. 718 of the FY24 FSGG Appropriations Act still applies to FY25 money, and bars the use of funds GOVERNMENT-WIDE “for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States” unless “authorized by Congress.”
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Aug 14
ICE used your taxpayer dollars to trick out a bunch of trucks in new livery, all painted black with "ICE" and a logo printed in gold on the side (and Trump's name in gold on the back window), then shoot a rap video in DC to post on social media.

I am not making this up.
August 15, 2025 at 4:20 AM
Still making my way through this morning's D.C. Circuit opinion in the foreign aid funding case, but right off the bat am incredibly surprised a court would think the Impoundment Control Act precludes plaintiffs seeking relief when the ICA says the opposite. media.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/doc...
media.cadc.uscourts.gov
August 13, 2025 at 2:53 PM
A DC Circuit appeals panel just unanimously denied OMB’s request for a stay in the @protectdemocracy.org case to get the apportionment website back online- so we can all see how OMB is managing your tax dollars - visibility we need now more than ever. media.cadc.uscourts.gov/orders/docs/...
media.cadc.uscourts.gov
August 9, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
stanveuger.bsky.social
I organized an economist amicus brief in V.O.S. Selections Inc. v. Trump, the "Liberation Day" tariffs case in which the government's appeal will soon be considered by the Federal Circuit Appeal Court.
July 9, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
ajosephoconnell.bsky.social
Want to know more about vacancies in Senate-confirmed positions -- their causes, consequences, legal implications, and policy reforms? I wrote a primer aimed at social scientists and those who who like the social sciences. effectivegov.uchicago.edu/primers/bure...
Bureaucratic Vacancies
effectivegov.uchicago.edu
May 31, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
bgrueskin.bsky.social
Read this excerpt of an interview with Jay Bhattacharya, new NIH director.

And do not miss the last graf.

Via @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social

www.science.org/content/arti...
On a Nature news article reporting that NIH planned to suspend subawards for foreign collaborations: "No, that's false. There's going to be a policy on tracking subawards. The NIH and the government should be able to see where the money's going." "I'm really uncomfortable with this conversation, because you're like, actually spreading rumors that you don't know anything about. ... Nature also is spreading rumors. Halt foreign collaborations, that's not true." "We're working on the policy, Jocelyn. You shouldn't be reporting rumors. I know there's leaks all over here, but the leaks don't actually reflect what's happening. Don't write about rumors. It actually makes the things that you and I care about worse. Like it spreads panic." Later that day, NIH released a policy that halted future subawards to foreign scientists and said they will need to apply directly for money under a system still in development.
May 6, 2025 at 2:48 AM
So great to see the Appropriations Committees - all four of their leaders on the majority and minority side - stand up for the law that requires OMB to make apportionments public. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/u...
Bipartisan House and Senate Leaders Urge White House to Restore Spending Website
www.nytimes.com
May 6, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
xkcd.com
PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081
April 25, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
citizensforethics.org
The OMB's removal of its apportionment website denies the American public information that is critical to ensuring transparency, ethics and integrity in government.

CREW and 9 other organizations urge the OMB to immediately restore this website.
Civil Society Presses for Answers on Apportionment Transparency
Congress should ask: Why did the administration take down an important public database?
www.pogo.org
April 8, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
sbagen.bsky.social
Here I am this morning in the Washington Post on the Trump Administration's defiance of an "apportionment transparency" law Congress passed to rein in abuses like the first-term Ukraine shakedown. wapo.st/3FXgjey
Opinion | Trump is openly defying a law created to rein in his first-term abuses
Withholding funding led to his first impeachment. Now the White House won’t post its spending moves.
wapo.st
April 8, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
edwincpark.bsky.social
Thread: this flew under the radar but is very concerning. Apportionment involves pro-forma OMB quarterly letters to agencies confirming they can spend $ as appropriated by Congress. OMB has now permanently shuttered the public apportionment website per Politico/letter from OMB to Senator Murray.
April 2, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Revisiting this helpful explanation of apportionment from @bbkogan.bsky.social as we go into day 4 of OMB cutting off access to apportionments Congress required the agency to make public.
bbkogan.bsky.social Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · Feb 21
Third - and this is key and was central to Trump’s first impeachment last time and what just happened - OMB apportions funding.

What is an apportionment? OMB lets the agency begin incurring obligations.

I will circle back to this in a few posts.
March 27, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
digiphile.bsky.social
The Supreme Court ruled President Trump cannot remove the Director of the Office of Special Counsel, a key watchdog agency, while a legal challenge moves forward.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/u...
Unlike AOTUS, US law says POTUS must give a rationale for removing OSC head. Rule of law holds, for now.
-supremecourt.gov Cite as: 604 U.S. _ (2025) GoRSUCH, J., dissenting SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 24A790 SCOTT BESSENT, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, ET AL. v. HAMPTON DELLINGER, SPECIAL COUNSEL OF THE OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL ON APPLICATION TO VACATE THE ORDER ISSUED BY THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (February 21, 2025] This matter concerns the President's action to remove Hampton Dellinger from his position as Special Counsel for the Office of Special Counsel. Dellinger challenged his without-cause removal in the District Court for the District of Columbia. See 5 U.S. C. §1211(b). On February 12, 2025, the District Court entered a temporary restraining order (TRO) providing that Dellinger should remain in office until the court ruled on his motion for a preliminary injunction. The District Court has scheduled a hearing on that motion for February 26, the day that the TRO expires. See Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 65(b)(2). Pending before this Court is the Government's application to vacate the TRO. Dellinger has filed a Response in Opposition. The Government then filed a reply. The question is thus fully briefed before this Court. Although it acknowledges that this Court typically does not have appellate jurisdiction over TROs, the Government urges us to construe the TRO as a preliminary injunction or to exercise jurisdiction under the All Writs Act in light of the core executive power assertedly restrained. Application 31-32; see 28 U.S. C. §1292(a)(1). In his opposition, Dellinger repeatedly notes that the TRO will "expire by its terms (in] eight [now five] days," Response in Opposition 1, 2 BESSENT v. DELLINGER GoRSUCH, J., dissenting that it "lasts only for a very short duration," id., at 15, and that it "is set to expire on February 26," id., at 39. In light of the foregoing, the application to vacate the order of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to t…
February 22, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
bbkogan.bsky.social
OMB director Russ Vought has officially begun carrying out his section of Project 2025.

Technical thread to follow, but it’s really important - this is a major path through which the Trump administration will illegally impound funding, refusing to carry out some of our spending laws.
Delegation of Apportionment Authority I hereby delegate to the Program Associate Directors the authorities delegated by the President to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget for apportioning funds pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 1513(b). This delegation supersedes any previous delegation of such authority and will remain in place until revised or revoked. The Program Associate Directors may re-delegate this authority as necessary in writing. This delegation does not limit the authority of the Director to exercise the delegated authority. Russell T. Vought, Director, Office of Management and Budget. Externally, the Director must ensure that OMB has sufficient visibility into the deep caverns of agency decision-making. One indispensable statutory tool to that end is to ensure that policy officials- the Program Associate Directors (PADs) managing the vast Resource Management Offices (RMOs)-personally sign what are known as the apportionments. In 1870, Congress passed the Anti-Deficiency Act® to prevent the common agency practice of spending down all appropriated funding, creating artificial funding shortfalls that Congress would have to fill. The law mandated that all funding be allotted or "apportioned" in installments. This process, whereby agencies come to OMB for allotments of appropriated funding, is essential to the effective financial stewardship of taxpayer dollars. OMB can then direct on behalf of a President the amount, duration, and purpose of any apportioned funding to ensure against waste, fraud, and abuse and ensure consistency with the President's agenda and applicable laws. The vast majority of these apportionments were signed by career officials- the Deputy Associate Directors (DADs)-until the Trump Administration placed this responsibility in the hands of the PADs and thereby opened wide vistas of oversight that had escaped the attention of policy officials. The Biden Administration subsequently reversed this decision. No Director should be chosen who is unwilling to restore apportionment decision-making to the PADs' personal review, who is not aggressive in wielding the tool on behalf of the President's agenda, or who is unable to defend the power against attacks from Congress.
February 21, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
ericumansky.bsky.social
Courts *ordered* the Trump admin to stop its spending freeze

Yet ProPublica found place after place where $ is still frozen

-hot meals for elderly and disabled
-groceries for those in need
-maternal & child health services
-a clinic that serves the poor

www.propublica.org/article/trum...
The Courts Blocked Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze. Agencies Are Withholding Money Anyway.
Agencies continue to suspend funding, despite multiple court orders blocking the federal freeze. Experts say the Trump administration’s actions set the stage for challenges to Congress’ authority — an...
www.propublica.org
February 10, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
So when that happened, the beneficiaries of appropriations that Nixon tried to cut off sued for the money on constitutional grounds, and they generally won. Congress also passed the Impoundment Control Act setting forth specific and very narrow procedures for the executive withholding funds.
January 25, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
Brief impoundment backgrounder: The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. Money that Congress appropriates generally must be spent. This wasn’t a big issue until Nixon, who tried to (unconstitutionally) restrict appropriated funding for lots of things and claimed the right to do so.
January 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
mollyjongfast.bsky.social
If you’re not worried about Russ Vought you’re not paying attention
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump loyalist pushes ‘post-Constitutional’ vision for second term
Russ Vought, the former president’s budget director, is laying the groundwork for a broad expansion of presidential powers.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2024 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
bbkogan.bsky.social
Here's Trump's incoming budget director saying the president has the constitutional authority to sign a spending bill into law and then immediately ignore it.

A profoundly dangerous worldview that Trump illegally did last time and that he and Vought say they will do again this time.
November 23, 2024 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by cerin.bsky.social
maxberger.bsky.social
Today, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez proposed a new task for to look at electoral reforms which could break up the two party system in Congress, expand the number of House districts, and move the House to a form of proportional representation.

It's a very, very good idea.
Blue Dogs Propose New Task Force to Look at ‘Winner-Take-All’ Election System
The bipartisan task force would investigate structural reforms like multimember districts and adding more House members in an effort to address growing polarization and distrust of Congress.
www.notus.org
November 19, 2024 at 3:16 PM