Sen. Banks Supports OMB Rule to Prevent Funding of Illegal and Unconstitutional Programs

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) led a bicameral comment letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought supporting the administration's proposed rule updating federal funds disbursement to better ensure taxpayer dollars are spent in accordance with the Constitution and federal law.

The proposed rule would work to prevent federal funds from supporting organizations and programs that engage in unlawful racial discrimination, promote radical gender ideology in violation of federal law, or aid illegal immigrants in evading immigration enforcement.

34 members of Congress signed the comment letter.

OMB will consider the comment letter alongside other public comments as it considers the final rule.

Read the full letter here or below:

Dear Director Vought:

Thank you for your work through the Office of Management and Budget to root out waste, fraud, and abuse and ensure that Americans' tax dollars align with federal law. We write in strong support of the proposed Rule to update Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations overseeing Federal Financial Assistance.

Federal financial assistance funds a vast swath of American life. Each year, the federal government distributes trillions of dollars in grants and financial assistance. This assistance goes to institutions-colleges, litigation groups, nonprofits, and private businesses-that form Americans and shape the law. Many of these institutions rely on federal assistance: most non-profit organizations receive government funding, and an estimated 35,000 nonprofits receive a majority of their funding from the federal government.

It is vital that recipients of government assistance comply with federal law. As members of the United States Congress, we have an interest in ensuring that federal funds do not flow to projects or recipients that violate laws passed by our institution-or constitutional provisions passed by Congress and ratified by the States. And as representatives of the American people, we have an interest in stopping these funds from advancing peripheral and experimental ideologies that seek to destabilize the American project and harm the American people.

For years, taxpayer dollars have supported unlawful activities. Countless federal funds have gone to organizations that engage in racial discrimination. From colleges that engage in race-based admissions to non-profits that provide race-exclusive scholarships and private businesses that operate career advancement programs only for members of certain races, recipients of federal aid have repeatedly promoted unequal treatment based on race. In previous administrations, unequal treatment has even been a condition of government assistance. Neither the United States Constitution nor Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 tolerate such activities. These authorities, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of race by government entities and federal fund recipients, do not "permit any distinctions of law based on race or color." The Constitution is color-blind; anyone who receives federal funding should be, too.

Another area where federal funds have enabled violations of federal law is radical gender

ideology. The Supreme Court has repeatedly and consistently characterized sex as biological and has held that "[p]hysical differences between men and women are" "enduring." Equal protection under the Constitution requires honor for men and women as different in biology and equal in citizenship. The same philosophy animates Title IX, which provides for sex-separated sports and private spaces in schools in order to advance equal opportunity for both sexes. Despite clear constitutional and statutory guidance, K-12 schools and institutions of higher education have damaged women's safety, dignity, and opportunities to excel by letting men compete in their sports and enter their private spaces. Often, they have been aided and abetted by non-profit advocacy groups that seek to force institutions to abrogate their duties.

Aid recipients also use gender identity to facilitate the chemical and surgical mutilation of

children. These procedures cause irreversible damage to healthy young children. They also have frequently been promoted, advertised, and carried out by institutions that made deceptive claims about their dangers. And both medical procedures and so-called "social transitions" have been attempted behind the backs of parents, violating parents' right to raise children in accord with their biological sex.

Finally, government assistance has been used to exploit federal immigration law. Progressive groups across the country have long opposed immigration enforcement. The Biden administration funded a network of over 200 non-governmental organizations that facilitated the entrance of millions of illegal aliens in the United States. These groups used taxpayer dollars to supply illegal aliens with cash, housing assistance, and travel services. Some groups coach illegal border-crossers on making fraudulent claims and help them register to vote illegally. And anti-ICE groups around the country have trained protestors to physically assault law enforcement officers and unlawfully remove illegal aliens from ICE custody.

OMB has clear legal authority to deny federal funding in support of these projects. Congress and the executive branch can make "value judgment[s]" about the allocation of public funds, and "selectively fund" only those programs "[they] believe[] to be in the public interest." This is especially true when the federal government declines to subsidize illegal and unconstitutional activity. It would be an abuse of discretion for agencies to spend money on programs that "Congress' expressed intent" is to forbid or discourage. Congress has expressed no intent to fund discrimination, to sponsor the mutilation of children and elimination of women's sports, or to support groups that believe the United States should not have a border.

As federal officers, we all take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. We commend

OMB for seeking to ensure that all assistance disbursed by the federal government aligns with the Constitution and with federal law. The American people deserve no less.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

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