John Yarmuth: “At this time, we did not understand that the President and OMB actually had learned from their 2018 attempts to…”

“At this time, we did not understand that the President and OMB actually had learned from their 2018 attempts to circumvent Congress. But they learned the wrong lesson. Now, they were just trying to bypass Congress completely. By the second week of August, Mr. Duffey was issuing holds on USAI funds every couple of days to block the Pentagon from sending aid. OMB was doing what it could to keep the President's hold on Ukraine aid active, but on August 28, a senior administration official told Politico about the hold on USAI funds. The President's scheme was unraveling. On August 29, our documents show Mr. Duffey signed another letter apportionment releasing 25 percent of the remaining State Department and USAID funds each Sunday in September. With this latest trick, it was clear these agencies were not going to be able to spend all the funds Congress appropriated before they expired on September 30. And in fact, they didn't, which was apparently OMB's intention all along. Meanwhile, Mr. Duffey was still signing apportionments to freeze USAI funds until September 12. During this time, DOD warned that OMB's ongoing hold on Ukraine assistance would prevent them from using all the funds Congress appropriated before they expired on September 30. And, of course, DOD was right. On September 18, Chairwoman Lowey and I wrote to OMB, expressing deep concerns about OMB's escalating abuses of its apportionment authority and its blatant attempts to undermine Congress' power of the purse.…”