{"id":4984,"date":"2025-09-16T08:56:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/watchdog-agency-says-trump-violated-law-for-sixth-time-in-withholding-fema-funds-2\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T08:56:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:56:54","slug":"watchdog-agency-says-trump-violated-law-for-sixth-time-in-withholding-fema-funds-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/watchdog-agency-says-trump-violated-law-for-sixth-time-in-withholding-fema-funds-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchdog agency says Trump violated law for sixth time in withholding FEMA funds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office released a report Monday concluding the Federal Emergency Management Agency violated the law \u201cwhen it withheld or delayed the obligation of\u201d funding Congress approved for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and the Shelter and Services Program.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The finding is the sixth time this year the GAO has determined the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act, which lays out a legal process for the president to request Congress cancel previously approved spending.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Instead of following that process, the GAO report says, the Trump administration significantly delayed issuing a notice of funding opportunity, the first step in awarding grants from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program. FEMA has not issued that notice for the Shelter and Services Program.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h4>FEMA programs provide food, shelter<\/h4>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">GAO wrote in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/890\/881507.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">the 22-page report<\/a> the delay in the Emergency Food and Shelter Program notice of funding opportunity \u201cconstitutes an impermissible withholding and a violation of the ICA.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Trump administration\u2019s actions regarding the Shelter and Services Program \u201cestablish the intent to impermissibly defer or preclude the obligation of budget authority,\u201d according to the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Emergency Food and Shelter Program \u201csupplements and expands ongoing work of local nonprofit and governmental social service organizations to provide shelter, food and supportive services to individuals and families who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, hunger and\/or homelessness,\u201d according to FEMA\u2019s website.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Shelter and Services Program is designed to provide temporary housing to relieve overcrowding in federal immigration facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h4>Congressional powers<\/h4>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">GAO also sought to reinforce the separation of powers laid out in the Constitution in the report, explaining that Congress approves laws and that once the president signs those laws, it\u2019s up to that branch of government to implement them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThis process does not grant the President the authority to pass his own laws or to ignore or amend a law duly enacted by Congress. Instead, the President must \u2018faithfully execute\u2019 the law as Congress enacts it,\u201d the GAO report states. \u201cIt follows from this that Executive Orders cannot function to repeal or undo legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote in a statement the latest GAO report \u201cis another stark reminder of a fact we have known for months: President Trump is breaking the law in order to prevent communities across the country from receiving resources they have been promised, including critical funding to address homelessness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe same guy who says he wants to get people off the streets is blocking funding for communities to tackle homelessness. Donald Trump and Russ Vought need to immediately allow these resources to flow, and Republican lawmakers need to join us insisting every last bit of this funding gets out the door in a fair, impartial way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Vought is the director of the Office of Management and Budget.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office released a report Monday concluding the Federal Emergency Management Agency violated the law \u201cwhen it withheld or delayed the obligation of\u201d funding Congress approved for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and the Shelter and Services Program. The finding is the sixth time this year the GAO has&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Watchdog agency says Trump violated law for sixth time in withholding FEMA funds - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/watchdog-agency-says-trump-violated-law-for-sixth-time-in-withholding-fema-funds-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Watchdog agency says Trump violated law for sixth time in withholding FEMA funds - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON \u2014 The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office released a report Monday concluding the Federal Emergency Management Agency violated the law \u201cwhen it withheld or delayed the obligation of\u201d funding Congress approved for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and the Shelter and Services Program. 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