02.07.25

In Wake of Trump Administration Illegally Halting Funds, Cantwell Opposes Nominee to Head Federal Budget Office

In speech on Senate floor, Cantwell highlights real impacts not funding federal programs would have on WA constituents; Cantwell: “This is really an attempt to steal money from our constituents, just to pay for a tax bill.”; Cantwell: “It's not a parlor game, it's not a think tank exercise. It is their lives.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, delivered a speech on the Senate floor calling on her colleagues to vote against confirming Russell T. Vought, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Vought – who following today’s vote will now serve as head of the federal office that helps develop the White House’s budget and priorities – was a chief architect of Project 2025. Last week, the OMB sent shockwaves across the country when President Trump issued an executive order freezing funding for vital federal programs, an order later rescinded amid legal challenges.

In her remarks, Sen. Cantwell said that the freeze amounted to an attempt to “shortcut Congress.”

“This administration does not have the power to wave a wand and erase legally authorized and appropriated funds. The Constitution is very clear here, Congress and the administration, together, agree on appropriations. They agree together when we pass laws and what we want to do to govern. And people should be able to rely on current laws until those laws are changed,” Sen. Cantwell said. “The havoc that has been caused by this nominee's strategy is just absurd.”

She continued: “My constituents, they want to know what's going on in their lives. It's not a parlor game, it's not a think tank exercise. It is their lives.”

Video of today’s speech is available HERE; audio is HERE; and a transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is available HERE.