Spending Fight, Staffing Shakeups Dominate Budget Hearings
Questions over federal workforce plans and presidential spending authority took center stage on Capitol Hill as the Trump administration defended its $2.1 trillion fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget proposal.
Among those facing Congress was Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, who was quizzed on whether the administration is withholding funds that were appropriated by Congress.
“Congress has appropriated money, and you don’t have the authority to impound it,” said Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
Director Vought did not directly address that claim, instead maintaining that “we have not impounded a single thing,” and arguing the administration has relied on legal mechanisms, such as proposed rescissions, to delay or block spending.
HHS Poised to Grow Staff
Lawmakers also pressed agency leaders on workforce changes across the government.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told lawmakers that HHS is poised to grow its headcount by 12,000 in the coming year.
“We will have made up all the employees that we lost, and we’ve replaced them with a better group of people who are actually going to address chronic health,” said Secretary Kennedy, who added that the cuts were necessary “to change the culture at these agencies.”
HHS laid off about 10,000 workers and another 10,000 departed through deferred resignation programs or early retirement in the first year of the Trump administration. At its lowest point, HHS headcount stood at 62,000. It’s rebounded to 72,000 with plans to push that number to 84,000.
Democrats meanwhile pushed Secretary Kennedy to reinstate more terminated employees.
“For more than one year, public health experts are being paid not to work. You can bring the staff back from administrative leave, just as you brought back the CDC employees focused on occupational health,” said House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT).
Interior RIFs On Hold
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the House Appropriations Committee that the Interior Department is no longer planning reductions in force (RIFs). This after it previously outlined plans to lay off thousands of employees last fall, before a court ruling over layoffs during the government shutdown put those RIFs on hold.
“There’s no plans for RIFs, and we’ve just completed a buyout,” said Secretary Burgum. “The buyout, the early retirement, if you want to call it that, was offered to people primarily that weren’t offered it last year.”
The department recently announced the third wave of deferred resignations and buyouts as part of its plan to streamline operations.
