Protect the Government Accountability Office and Library of Congress

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee has approved a spending bill that would cut the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) budget by nearly half. The GAO is a nonpartisan oversight agency tasked with investigating federal spending and ensuring funding allocated by Congress is not being withheld or misused. The GAO has already found cases where the Trump administration violated the 1974 Impoundment Control Act by secretly withholding previously-approved funding without informing Congress, and other investigations of the Executive branch are ongoing. The Appropriations Committee bill would essentially kneecap the GAO, preventing it from investigating the Trump administration’s attempts to overrule the Legislative branch’s “power of the purse.”

The Appropriations bill also slashes funding for another core element of the Legislative branch, the Library of Congress (LOC). Another independent, non-partisan agency, the LOC acts as the research arm of the Legislative branch, providing lawmakers with confidential, apolitical information, including legal advice, to help them make informed policy decisions. The Trump administration has already attempted to politicize and undermine this institution by installing Trump’s personal attorney as interim Librarian of Congress.

Republicans’ proposal to defund the GAO and LoC are yet another blatant grab for absolute power and, if successful, will existentially threaten the separation of powers in our democracy. Demand that your representatives oppose funding cuts to these essential agencies.