In the wake of the Somali fraud scandal that rattled Minnesota, the Trump administration will soon order a sweeping whole-of-government review of all federal funding awarded to 13 Democrat-leaning states and the District of Columbia, RealClearPolitics is first to report.
It is perhaps the most aggressive budgetary colonoscopy since the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency and the deputization of Elon Musk last year to slash and burn his way through the federal government. Sources familiar with the effort tell RCP it signals the administration’s seriousness about getting to the bottom of waste, fraud, and abuse.
Government agencies have until the close of business next Wednesday to make their report to Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Business and Management.
The review comes as Trump vows to cut off all federal funding to sanctuary cities. “They do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens. And it breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come,” the president said last week during remarks to the Detroit Economic Club. “So we’re not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary cities.”
The Department of Health and Human Services already froze more than $10 billion in social services and childcare funding for a handful of blue states earlier this month over allegations that funds were fraudulently directed to non-citizens. The latest OMB action will likely dwarf that effort in size and scope. Every government agency, with the exception of the Department of War and the Department of Veterans Affairs, must complete the budget data request and detail all monies sent to a list of blue states.
Hellbound and Down 