Purple Haired Democrat Screams at OMB Director Over Trump Budget Cuts [WATCH]

A House Appropriations Committee hearing turned contentious Tuesday as Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., repeatedly confronted Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought over the Trump administration’s spending priorities, foreign aid reductions, and grant review process, as reported by The Gateway Pundit.

The exchange came as lawmakers examined the administration’s budget proposals for fiscal year 2027.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration released its proposed budget, which includes a 40 percent increase to the $1 trillion defense budget approved by Congress last year, along with a 10 percent reduction in non-defense spending.

During her allotted questioning time, DeLauro accused the administration of failing to carry out spending laws as Congress intended and challenged Vought over reports that political appointees were reviewing federal grants.

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“I think you made clear, Director, that you are not going to really carry out the spending laws as Congress intended, and that really is very, very troubling,” DeLauro said.

She argued that grant reviews had contributed to delays at agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

“We’ve already seen OMB implementing political review of grants,” she said. “It’s led to massive delays at NSF, the NIH — NIH has had about a 34% decrease in new awards in 2026 compared to what they’ve done in the past.”

DeLauro continued by claiming additional political reviews were occurring at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Extramural Research.

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“There have been cases where people are still awaiting approval, and political appointees have really denied the award going forward,” she said before asking, “What can you do to address it? Where is the holdup? And, quite frankly, how would requiring a political appointee to approve every single grant improve government efficiency?”

Vought responded by defending the administration’s review process and said oversight of taxpayer dollars requires evaluating how agencies intend to spend appropriated funds.

“Congresswoman, one of the things I heard constantly when we were considering the rescissions package last year, of which you all opposed, but one of the things I heard was, why wouldn’t you just eliminate just the small things that you have concerns with, and not actually take the number down lower,” Vought said.

“The way that we do that, the way that we provide good oversight of federal dollars, is to be able to assess and review how the agencies intend to spend the money, and that takes time. You don’t do that in the middle of a 30-day period after you pass the appropriation.”

DeLauro responded that the committee had not received the spending plans it expected to review.

“With all due respect, Mr. Director, my heavens, we haven’t seen spend plans,” she said. “That has been one of the biggest, one of the big problems, this committee hasn’t even seen spend plans that we’re supposed to, you know, get.”

She argued the proposed review process would allow political appointees to evaluate grants rather than relying solely on scientific merit.

When Vought attempted to explain the administration’s approach, he began with, “Can I give you an analogy? An analogy is that when I do the budget for the president, do you think I don’t rely on the career staff? It has a political responsibility for the line item.”

DeLauro interrupted, saying she had only seconds remaining.

“It is about political appointees making the decision, not people based on the evidence,” she said.

Referencing research projects at Yale University, DeLauro added, “Don’t tell me that these are — they do not meet the government’s priorities or the president’s priorities. Is it not to deal with Tourette’s syndrome, to deal with OCD, is not about somebody wasting money! This is science.”

She concluded her remarks by saying, “It’s reviewed as it has been over 75 years, when these awards have been made, and you are all in the business of reversing that and putting all of these grants through a political lens and someone’s political ideology, it’s wrong, and we’re not going to let it happen. I yield back.”

As Vought began responding, he said, “I would just say that there was an election. The president was put in charge of the executive branch—”

DeLauro interrupted again before he could finish.

“The Constitution says that the appropriations process has is the power of the purse. You are ignoring that,” she said. “You flout the constitution every single day, and you have been doing it for the last year and a half, and we again are not going to continue to allow that to happen!”

She concluded by adding, “No president has the right to just violate the United States Constitution, and no member of this committee does that, but the administration is doing it regularly!”

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