Overview

• Senate Republicans voted to end California’s emissions waiver despite GAO guidance that the exemption could not be repealed by simple majority.
• OMB Director Russ Vought and GOP senators John Barrasso and Mike Lee have publicly accused the GAO of overstepping its nonbinding role and injecting partisanship into spending impoundment rulings.
• The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency has sought to downsize the GAO, prompting the agency to reaffirm that it reports to Congress and is not subject to executive branch control.
• Gene Dodaro has met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to defend the GAO’s budget request and emphasize its mission of providing nonpartisan analysis to Congress.
• The GAO is conducting about 39 inquiries into whether the White House violated rules against bypassing Congress’s power of the purse, including recent freezes on federal funding.