Hal Duncan told senators Tuesday he could not promise the administration would not unilaterally cancel funding later this year during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Budget Committee.
Duncan, the nominee to serve in the No. 2 position at the Office of Management and Budget, defended the controversial "pocket rescission" maneuver during the first of two confirmation hearings this week and said, "Pocket rescissions have been executed by previous administrations, notably the Ford administration."
"I can't commit to any of the fiscal tools the administration may or may not use in the future," Duncan said.
The White House defied Democrats and many Republicans last year by canceling $4.9 billion in foreign aid without a vote from Congress.
Typically, if an administration wants to withhold funding Congress has already appropriated, the White House will send a rescissions request and then Congress has 45 days to approve, amend or reject the request, with inaction considered rejection.
Trump administration officials say they can submit a formal rescission request with less than 45 days left in the fiscal year and then withhold it until it lapses on Oct. 1 regardless of whether Congress acts; lawmakers in both parties call the tactic an illegal end-run around Congress' "power of the purse."
The Supreme Court gave the Trump administration the go-ahead last fall to cancel much of the foreign aid it nixed through a pocket rescission, but the high court has yet to settle major questions about whether the administration violated the Constitution or federal law in withholding billions of dollars Congress has appropriated.
If the Trump administration attempts the tactic again this year, it would happen in August or September.
Duncan also testified Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and told lawmakers the administration will stop federal cash from flowing to "divisive ideologies" under new grant rules the White House is developing.
He said the administration will ensure federal grants are aligned with the president's priorities by changing the way more than $1 trillion is approved each year and that, "The ultimate deciders of these grants will be the political employees at the agencies," Duncan said.
The White House proposed changes last month that would put political appointees in charge of blessing or nixing awards to state and local governments, community groups, education institutions and nonprofit organizations, and Duncan said the result will be that the administration will more easily head off fraud and that no federal dollars will go to "divisive DEI ideologies, woke gender ideologies, illegal immigration." The administration is expected to finalize these plans as soon as this summer.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) touted the proposal as a way to ensure federal money goes to "things that President Trump actually ran on — his causes." Democrats raised concern that the new approval process would be used to deny federal support for groups or governments that don't boost the president, and Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the Senate's top Democratic appropriator, told Duncan on Tuesday, "That really sounds to me like you all are trying to turn the entire federal government into this one big slush fund to reward those aligned with the administration and punish everyone else."
Both committees must vote in the coming weeks to advance Duncan's nomination to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote by the full chamber. He is already serving in the role as acting deputy director.