Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russell Vought arrives to testify during a hearing of the House Budget Committee about President Trump's budget for Fiscal Year 2021, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump‘s nominee to be the next director of the Office of Management and Budget, faced tough questioning from Senate Democrats during his Wednesday confirmation hearing.

Until a federal judge stops it, the “pause” in grants and loans will be really bad news for poor people in need of Medicaid or food stamps.

President Donald Trump’s dramatic pause of federal grants and loans is queuing up a Supreme Court showdown over the Constitution that will test the court’s recently muscular commitment to curb executive power.

President Trump's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget faced a tough grilling from Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday.

“Ranking member Durbin, President Biden is the president of the United States. He was duly sworn in, and he is the president of the United States,” Bondi replied, avoiding a straightforward answer. “There was a peaceful transition of power; President Trump left office and was overwhelmingly elected in 2024.”

This is the practice of presidents refusing to spend funds that Congress has appropriated, shifting power to the White House. To take a current example, Mr Trump has issued an executive order putting an “immediate pause” on billions of dollars appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2021 and a climate law from 2022.

President Donald Trump’s administration issued a memo Monday ordering all federal assistance to be temporarily paused, as Trump and his allies have argued he can block government funds that Congress has already authorized, despite a federal law forbidding it.

You are going to swear an oath to the Constitution, not to Donald Trump, just like any other confirmed official," Slotkin reminded Vought

The framers stated clearly that Congress, not the president, should hold the power of the purse. Trump has tried this power grab before and was impeached over it.

Congress is gearing up for a potential separation of powers fight with the incoming Trump administration over who has the final pull of the purse strings.

Vought was OMB director during Trump’s first term. He already had a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.