Vought takes aim at GAO in new guidance

U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought attends an event to announce a rollback of the 2009 Endangerment Finding in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on February 12, 2026 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Office of Management and Budget called into question the authority of Congress’ watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, in a Tuesday update to the government’s guidance on internal controls.

OMB Director Russell Vought has long clashed with GAO, dating back to his tenure in the first Trump administration. In September, he said that he didn’t think the congressional oversight office should exist at all, calling it a “quasi-legislative independent entity.”

This week, Vought wrote in new guidance that OMB has been deferring too much to GAO, which sets internal control standards for agencies.

“Doing so has failed to prioritize agency internal control processes to adequately protect American ...