We have more good news to share about one of Public Citizen’s lawsuits against the Trump regime.

In response to our lawsuit, a federal court had given the administration until last Friday to restore a critical database about government spending that it had unlawfully taken down earlier this year. The information is now back online, and the American people can again see for themselves whether the regime is or isn’t spending money as directed by Congress.

Here’s more about the case:

• In February, Donald Trump put a man named Russell Vought in charge of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

• Vought was one of the primary architects of the infamous Project 2025 manifesto, which essentially serves as an authoritarian playbook for the Trump regime. He believes that Trump has virtually limitless power — including the power to ignore Congress.

• The Office of Management and Budget is one of the most critical agencies in the entire federal government because it oversees a vast amount of what the executive branch does.

• By law, OMB is required to publicly post information about the funds allocated to each federal agency. This is known as the Public Apportionments Database.

• But in late March — under Vought’s leadership and in clear violation of the law — OMB took that database off of its website.

• On April 8 — representing Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) — Public Citizen filed suit in federal court challenging OMB’s removal of the Public Apportionments Database from its website.

• In July, a federal judge ordered the administration to restore the Public Apportionments Database.

• The administration then asked the court of appeals to let it keep the database hidden while its appeal of our lawsuit goes forward.

• On August 9, the court rejected that request and gave the administration a deadline of August 15 to restore the database.

• The administration complied and the Public Apportionments Database is now back online.

The Public Apportionments Database is one of the most important tools we have for monitoring whether the Trump regime is spending taxpayer money the way Congress intended or whether, instead, the administration is openly flouting Congress’ constitutional authority over government spending (the so-called “power of the purse”).

Getting the Public Apportionments Database restored is an essential part of our ongoing campaign to maintain transparency in government and to be vigilant about what the Trump regime is up to.

MORE ABOUT TAKING THE TRUMP REGIME TO COURT

The Trump administration is unilaterally, unconstitutionally, and unlawfully dismantling the federal government — our government — from Cabinet-level departments that have their own stately buildings here in Washington, D.C., to smaller agencies that go largely unnoticed as they do the routine, unheralded work that makes for a functioning country.

Public Citizen is doing everything we can — within our modest means — to fight back at every turn. It’s David and Goliath for sure, but we will never back down. Even where we haven’t (yet) notched definitive victories in court, we are slowing down the regime and making it work a lot harder in pursuit of its desire for absolute power.

This OMB case is just one of the 17 lawsuits we have filed (so far) against the administration since Trump returned to power. Are these lawsuits alone enough to fully defeat Trump and MAGA? Of course not. But are they a meaningful part of the pushback needed to collectively save our country? No doubt about it.

What you and Public Citizen are doing together matters. What hundreds of other organizations, big and small, are doing matters. What millions upon millions of our fellow Americans are doing matters. We believe that to our core. We take solace in that. And we draw inspiration from that. We hope you do, too.

If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen’s work standing up to the Trump regime.

Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will help at such a critical moment.

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For progress,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
 
 
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