WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government's watchdog agency said Thursday a White House office violated federal law in withholding security assistance to Ukraine.
The Government Accountability Office said in a report that the Office of Management and Budget violated the law in holding up the aid. The freeze is at the center of the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
The independent agency, which reports to Congress, said OMB violated the Impoundment Control Act in delaying the security assistance Congress authorized for Ukraine for “policy reasons,” rather than technical budgetary needs.
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” wrote the agency's general counsel, Thomas Armstrong, in the report.
OMB has argued the hold was appropriate and necessary.
“We disagree with GAO's opinion. OMB uses its apportionment authority to ensure taxpayer dollars are properly spent consistent with the President's priorities and with the law," said OMB spokeswoman Rachel Semmel.
Trump was impeached last month on charges of abusing his power for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic rivals, as he was withholding the aid, and for obstructing Congress' ensuing probe. The Senate is set to begin its trial on Thursday.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is urging lawmakers in Washington to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which she says will help bring stability to her state’s agriculture industry.
Twitter will begin posting notices on tweets from social media savvy politicians that break the platform’s rules but are in the public’s interest, the company announced Thursday.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Thursday, June 27, 2019.
The 2020 presidential hopefuls agreed that despite recent positive signs in the U.S. economy, not all Americans have benefited from the boom equally.
Democratic candidates were asked about the climate crisis during the first presidential primary debates on Wednesday and Thursday in Miami, a city that is currently experiencing its hottest week in more than three decades.
Julián Castro, 2020 presidential hopeful, believes the deaths of Andrés Manuel Lopez Óbrador and his 23-month-old daughter Valeria, were avoidable if not for a Trump policy that limits the number of asylum seekers per day
San Francisco's board of supervisors has voted a final time to effectively ban the sale of e-cigarettes in the city until the products are reviewed and approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, June 29, 2019.
As immigration officials return unaccompanied minors to a controversial Border Patrol facility, Deputy Secretary of the HHS Eric Hargan tells Cheddar, "We are running out of money in our program, and we really need to get the money so that we can provide services for these children."
As the recent push to legalize recreational cannabis in the Empire State failed in the legislature, state Sen. Diane Savino is putting forward the approach of expanding New York's medical marijuana program in order to further normalize the issue.
