Congressional Budget Office

The White House announced on Friday that President Trump is canceling nearly $1 billion in spending already approved by Congress. The administration is using a rare and legally contested power to rescind the funds, targeting money allocated for immigrant services and diversity-focused initiatives. The move, carried out through the Office of Management and Budget, is expected to trigger legal and political challenges over presidential authority to undo appropriations.

Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, is asserting broad authority to withhold money from approved projects. Commenters note that while Elon Musk was the public face of the Department of Government Efficiency, it was Vought's OMB that carried out unilateral spending cuts and mass firings across federal agencies.

A Wall Street Journal opinion column criticises the Congressional Budget Office for incorporating climate-related health projections into its budget forecasts. The piece argues the nonpartisan scorekeeper is straying from its core fiscal mandate by weighing long-term climate health effects in its economic analysis. The commentary has drawn attention in debates over whether the CBO should factor climate impacts into official budget scoring.