The administration of US President Donald Trump violated the law when it withheld Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funding that had been appropriated by Congress, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated in a decision released on Monday (16 June).
The GAO, a part of Congress that monitors federal spending, found that Trump’s executive order in March seeking to eliminate IMLS “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” had in fact violated a law—the Impoundment Control Act of 1994 (ICA)—by directing the agency to withhold funding that had already been appropriated by Congress. The GAO decision states that it has not received any response from IMLS despite multiple inquiries, adding: “because the burden to justify such withholdings rests with IMLS and the executive branch, we conclude that IMLS violated the ICA by withholding funds from obligation and expenditure”.
Representatives for IMLS did not respond to The Art Newspaper’s inquiries about the GAO decision. In a letter quoted by The New York Times Mark R. Paoletta, the general counsel for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, described the GAO’s decision as an “invasion by an arm of Congress” and that its actions “undermine agency efforts to faithfully implement the law and the president’s priorities”.
Democratic members of Congress, meanwhile, applauded the watchdog's decision. In a statement on 16 June Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state who is the vice-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, supported the GAO’s findings.
“Here again, it is clear as day President Trump is breaking the law to block funding Congress provided—in this case, we’re talking about investments in local museums and libraries in all 50 states,” Senator Murray said. “President Trump may not like the fact that Congress has, on a bipartisan basis, invested in helping kids learn at their local library—but that does not change the fact that he himself signed these investments into law, and they need to start flowing immediately. The president’s funding freeze isn’t just illegal; every day it continues, it hurts real people and communities across our country who are suffering the consequences as investments they count on get choked off.”
Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut who is the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, concurred in a statement.
“This is not complicated: Congress passed, and the President signed into law, billions in investments in critical infrastructure, and support for communities across the country—such as critical funding that the Institute of Museum and Library Services owes to public libraries across the country—and those promises must be delivered,” Representative DeLauro said. “Whether a particular Executive Order or Presidential Memorandum is the justification this administration is using to steal from people is missing the point—the point is that the American taxpayer, veterans, farmers, and communities across this country are owed these investments that were promised in law. It should be obvious that the American people did not elect President Trump to steal from them, but today the Comptroller General reminded him of exactly that.”
IMLS’s appropriation for fiscal year 2024 was $294.8m; like the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, its funding is determined by Congress. Many grants to museums, libraries and other organisations that had already been awarded were rescinded following Trump’s executive order.
The National Museum and Library Services Board immediately warned the Trump administration and Keith Sonderling, the president’s appointee to lead the agency, that IMLS’s activities “cannot be paused, reduced or eliminated without violating Congressional intent and federal statute”. The administration was then sued by the attorneys general of 21 states and by the largest union of museum and library workers in the US and the largest library association in the world for seeking to eliminate IMLS.
