White House budget director Russ Vought said Tuesday that the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal grant approval process won’t undermine lawmakers’ ability to direct cash to specific projects back home.
“Sometimes you have an earmark to a specific person or a specific organization, and that would probably be at the top of the list that needs to be funded,” Vought told House appropriators during a morning oversight hearing.
The White House proposed changes last month that would put political appointees in charge of approving or scrapping funding awards to community groups, education institutions, state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations.
But projects Congress orders the Trump administration to fund through so-called earmarks are “not something that is impacted by this grant rulemaking,” Vought said.
