White House budget office gives political appointees more power in spending, alarming career officia
The White House budget office has upended a decades-old practice on how federal agencies spend money, giving more power to political appointees to move money around, two senior administration officials confirmed.
Previously, career staffers at the White House Office of Management and Budget, the kind of employees who work at agencies despite changes in administrations, were charged with signing off on approving the “apportionment” of funds, deciding how to shift or restrict the disbursement of money already approved by Congress.
Under a new system unilaterally put in place last week, those decisions will now be signed off on by political appointees chosen by the Trump administration who work as program associate directors at the OMB. The change was confirmed by two senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about the new internal policy. A White House spokesman dismissed the significance of the change on Thursday, noting career staff have always served under the direction of political appointees.
Career OMB staffers have privately expressed concern that the shift will dramatically slow down the disbursement of federal funding approved by Congress, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations with these staffers. Some career staffers have also expressed “deep suspicion” about the administration’s motives for the change, one of these people said. Career staffers say they are unclear why this change is happening now.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/20/white-house-spending-power/
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