Democrats on the House and Senate appropriations committees say the White House is failing to disclose what it is doing with hundreds of federal accounts and billions in federal money approved by Congress, Punchbowl reported.
The complaints come as the House Appropriations Committee is due to begin revising fiscal 2026 spending bills. The White House has submitted only a "skinny" budget plan that features $163 billion in non-Defense spending while increasing Defense spending, Punchbowl said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said in a letter the Office of Management and Budget has not provided information on spending for hundreds of programs, preventing them knowing what exactly is going on.
"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," Murray and DeLauro wrote in a letter.
In their letter, they assert a spending plan for the Department of Health and Human Services includes only high-level funding amounts and does not include funding levels for hundreds of specific programs, listing 530 asterisks in place of any details of funding.
"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," Murray and DeLauro wrote.
The spending plan for the Department of Education omits dozens of specific programs and activities, asserting that $13 billion was unallocated.
"Despite the fact that much of that funding is directed in statute for specific purposes, just as it was in fiscal year 2024," Murray and DeLauro wrote.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., wants all 12 spending bills revised by the full Appropriations Committee by late July, with some of them on the floor that month, Punchbowl said.
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