The White House last week informed a federal office charged with conducting oversight of the Trump administration that it was blocking congressionally approved money for its operations for the coming fiscal year, effectively shuttering it after midnight on Tuesday.
The blocked funds are not linked to the funding showdown between congressional Democrats and Republicans that could prompt a government shutdown at the same time.
The decision to defund the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, which drew quick condemnation from top Republicans in the Senate who are now pressing to reverse it, was the latest effort by the White House to undermine independent investigators in the federal government.
It was also an end run around Congress by a White House that has repeatedly sought to usurp the legislative branch’s power over federal spending.
The move would shut down an umbrella office that supports the government’s 72 inspectors general, and could wipe out a public website where they post their reports, which includes a repository of decades of recommendations on how the government can save money.
It was reported earlier by The Washington Post.
In a letter on Monday, Senators Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, and Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called on the White House to release the funding.
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