Senate Budget Committee grills Dan Bishop on impoundments, freezes and mass firings during OMB nomination hearing

Dan Bishop, the president’s nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), told the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday that he would implement President Trump’s priorities but repeatedly declined to make legal judgments about current OMB actions that senators described as freezes or impoundments of appropriated funds.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, the committee’s ranking member, opened a line of questioning about the legal limits of executive withholding of appropriated funds and asked Bishop directly: “Are you gonna be party to these illegal actions? Are you gonna be party to violations of the Constitution?” Bishop replied that he would not be the office’s legal decision‑maker, saying, “I won’t be making the legal determinations for OMB or for the administration,” and that those determinations would be handled by OMB’s general counsel and others.

Why this matters: senators from both parties pressed Bishop on whether the administration will follow court orders that have instructed agencies to resume spending on programs that committees and courts have said should not be withheld. Lawmakers repeatedly referenced recent litigation and GAO findings and raised concrete examples — including global health programs funded through PEPFAR and an estimated group of 83 Afghan girls in Oman whose support, senators said, is at risk when grants and foreign‑aid contracts are paused.

Bishop’s answers and committee exchanges

Bishop, who current…