White House reinstates some pandemic oversight dollars at GOP request
Russ Vought is slashing money from blue states but ceded to demands from two Senate Republicans.
HAILEY FUCHS 10/01/2025, 4:53PM ET
White House budget chief Russ Vought spent the first day of the government shutdown clawing back billions of dollars from projects in states run by Democrats — but offered a modest concession to Republicans.
The Office of Management and Budget Wednesday released $5 million to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, or PRAC, the government entity tasked with overseeing the federal response to Covid.
It comes after Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) earlier this week sent a letter to Vought criticizing the decision to withhold the congressionally-appropriated funds and imploring the Trump administration to reconsider.
“We are pleased that following our outreach, OMB has decided to release funds that will allow PRAC to remain operational and continue its vital oversight work,” Grassley and Collins said in a joint statement Wednesday. “This funding ensures that PRAC can keep its staff in place to continue providing the transparency and accountability that taxpayers deserve.”
PRAC is part of the larger Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, an interagency oversight entity that supports IGs throughout the federal government and operates hotlines for whistleblowers to report ethical violations across agencies.
The Council informed Congressional leaders over the weekend that OMB had canceled all of its funding. An OMB spokesperson in a statement defended the decision, saying inspectors general were “corrupt, partisan, and in some cases, have lied to the public.”
“The American people will no longer be funding this corruption,” the spokesperson said.
While Collins and Grassley singled out PRAC in their initial letter to Vought, they asked that he restore all funding for the Council, too, saying the lapse would “disrupt numerous important oversight functions.”
The Senate Republicans said in their statement Wednesday that while they were gratified that the PRAC money had ultimately been reinstated, they still wanted dollars for the larger Council put back in place.
“While this is a positive step, OMB should promptly apportion funds for [the Council] as well, consistent with congressional intent,” they said.
PRAC was established by Congress in March 2020 at the start of the global pandemic and reauthorized as part of the GOP’s flagship domestic policy megabill earlier this year.
The $5 million will allow the office to continue functioning through the first quarter of fiscal year 2026.
Nope.
The Inspectors General have long ago blatantly proved how corrupt they are.
But whatever… that $5 million grew on trees.
Has Grassley outlived his loyalty and usefulness? It appears so.
A good actor.