Next week the Senate will begin publicly vetting President Donald Trump’s nominee for the No. 2 position at the Office of Management and Budget, known as the “nerve center” of an administration.
The Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to hold a confirmation hearing next week on the nomination of Hal Duncan to be deputy director of the OMB, Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced Tuesday.
Duncan, who currently heads legislative affairs at the White House budget office, was nominated to replace Dan Bishop, who was recently confirmed as a U.S. attorney.
The new nominee is expected to field questions about his stance on whether the executive branch has the power to withhold funding Congress has appropriated, as OMB continues to hold back billions of dollars more than 16 months after Trump’s inauguration.
Even Republicans on the Budget Committee have accused OMB in recent months of continuing to illegally “impound” federal cash. During a hearing this spring, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) chided White House Budget Director Russ Vought for not releasing hundreds of millions of dollars Congress previously approved to help states fund anti-poverty services.
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