'530 asterisks': Trump accused of deliberately hiding how he's spending taxpayer dollars

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28 May

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he visits the Abrahamic Family House during his visit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 16, 2025.

Top Trump administration officials have spoken at length about alleged irresponsible government use of taxpayer dollars and a lack of transparency at federal agencies, with President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk, focusing heavily during their first months in the White House on promoting what they claimed was "government efficiency."

But in a letter to the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Trump appointee Russell Vought, two top Democrats in Congress said Tuesday that the office in charge of producing and managing the president's budget is "intentionally" misleading Congress—and the American people—and refusing to provide transparency about how public funds are being used.

"Your lack of transparency shows disdain for the right of the public to understand how taxpayer dollars are being spent and for the rule of law," wrote Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who are the ranking members of the House and Senate appropriations committees, respectively.

The two lawmakers were among the Democrats who spoke out in the first days of Trump's second term, when Vought issued a memo directing a funding freeze for all federal grants and loans, which had already been appropriated by Congress—an action that has since been blocked by numerous court orders.

Again, said DeLauro and Murray, the Trump administration is failing to adhere to federal laws affirming that Congress has the "power of the purse"—this time by not disclosing how agencies are spending taxpayer dollars.

DeLauro and Murray pointed to Vought's removal in late March of an OMB website that made federal spending allocations available to the public as evidence that he is depriving "the public of information they are entitled to in law but also undermin[ing] Congress' ability to carry out its legislative and oversight functions."

Further, they wrote, under Vought's direction the OMB has developed "inconsistent and inadequate spending plans for fiscal year 2025 submitted by departments and agencies under section 1113(a) of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act."

"Many agencies' plans still have yet to be submitted or blatantly omit basic funding details at your agency's direction."

The bill was passed in mid-March, with departments and agencies required to submit a complete "spending, expenditure, or operating plan for fiscal year 2025" within 45 days of its passage.

"These spending plans were due to the appropriations committees on Tuesday, April 29," wrote DeLauro and Murray. "Four weeks have now come and gone, and while the committees began receiving some spending plans from departments and agencies consistent with the 45-day requirement, many agencies' plans still have yet to be submitted or blatantly omit basic funding details at your agency's direction."

The lawmakers pointed to the spending plans of the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services (HHS) as evidence that the OMB and the Trump administration have "demonstrated an inability to effectively and efficiently manage public resources."

The Department of Education's plan was submitted on the deadline of April 29, but "completely omitted dozens of specific programs and activities."

The education document also said nearly $13 billion was "unallocated," though much of that funding is directed for specific purposed by law. A revised plan sent to Congress on May 23 still included $8 billion in "unallocated" funding and lacked "detail on dozens of programs now with only four months left in the fiscal year."

The spending plan submitted by HHS included the label "Hill Version" in the file name—suggesting there was another internal version that the agency headed by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was not sharing with lawmakers.

The HHS document included only "high-level funding amounts" and provided no funding information for hundreds of programs.

"Instead, it lists 530 asterisks in place of details about how this administration is choosing to fund—or not fund—hundreds of programs that the American people count on every day," wrote DeLauro and Murray. "We need to see the 'real version' of HHS' spend plan, and we need to see actual funding amounts—not asterisks—for these vital programs."

The lawmakers demanded that the OMB comply with section 1113 by the end of May "and ensure that all spending plans contain sufficient information to demonstrate how each department and agency intends to prudently obligate all amounts provided by Congress."

The incomplete spending plans, they said, raise "serious questions about what exactly this administration is seeking to hide from the committees—and the American people."

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