Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, HOUSE NEWS—Reps. Raskin and Garcia condemn OMB’s withholding of funds from watchdog council, (Oct 15, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

In response to the withholding of funds, Rep. Rosa DeLauro called on Congress to establish an Inspector General at the OMB, the “nerve center of federal spending.”

U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Robert Garcia (D-CA) in a letter called on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russel Vought to stop illegally withholding congressionally approved funding for the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an independent oversight body created by Congress-appropriated funds. Raskin and Garcia characterized the withholding of funds as “a flagrant attack on one of the strongest safeguards against lawless behavior by your administration across dozens of agencies.”

Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. The letter states that the Council plays a crucial role in ensuring that each of the more than 70 Offices of Inspector General (OIGs), which have produced more than 34,000 public reports, “are able to do their work exposing and correcting waste, fraud, and corruption in government agencies.” The Council was created in 2008 with strong bipartisan support.

Withholding of funds. Raskin and Garcia accused OMB of withholding at least $28 million in appropriated funding from the Council. Because the funds have already been paid into the Inspector General Council Fund, the Council should not be affected by the current government shutdown, they wrote. Because OMB is illegally withholding funds, the Council has been forced to furlough staff and halt their statutorily mandated functions. Additionally, by withholding funds, “OMB has intentionally ensured that taxpayer dollars paid into the Fund are being wasted while agencies go unsupervised.”

The letter states that the withholding of congressionally appropriated funding is an illegal attempt by the administration “to cripple constitutionally mandated independent oversight of its activities.” Raskin and Garcia wrote, “This is another shocking step in the effort to cover up the rampant fraud and corruption, as well as waste of taxpayer dollars, that has defined this administration. If independent watchdogs are silenced, corruption and violations of the law by federal agencies will go un-investigated and a key safeguard will be eliminated.”

Request for information. Raskin and Garcia demanded that OMB immediately release the congressionally appropriated funds to the Council and, to ensure Congress can perform its constitutional oversight responsibilities, provide the following documents and information by October 24, 2025: (1) all documents and communications referring or relating to funding for the Council or OIGs; (2) all documents and communications between OMB and the Executive Office of the President regarding apportionments for fiscal year 2026; (3) all documents, communications, and memoranda within OMB regarding apportionments for FY 2026; (4) a detailed explanation regarding OMB’s decision to withhold funding for the Council, including when the decision was made and who made it; and (5) a detailed explanation regarding the legal authority that justifies OMB’s withholding of the Council’s apportioned funds for FY 2026.

Necessary reforms. In response to the withholding of funds, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) stated, “This is a five-alarm fire.” She added, “We are a rule-of-law country, and at this critical moment, Congress must protect Inspectors General on a bipartisan, bicameral basis.” DeLauro stated that, moving forward, two reforms are urgent: (1) Congress must safeguard the independence of Inspectors General by exempting their funds from OMB control; and (2) the OMB needs a dedicated Inspector General to provide independent and sustained oversight of its budget execution process.

News: AgencyNews IndustryNewsTrends PublicEmployees Whistleblowers EconomicNews