根据一份联邦监管机构的报告，特朗普政府通过扣留国会已拨给美国卫生与质量研究署（AHRQ）的数千万美元研究拨款，违反了联邦法律。美国政府问责办公室（GAO）周三发现，卫生与公众服务部（HHS）在2025财年扣留了超过7800万美元资金，违反了《资金冻结控制法》（ICA）。此前的大规模裁员已削弱了该机构的拨款发放能力。
The Trump administration violated federal law by withholding tens of millions of dollars in research grant funding Congress had appropriated for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), according to a federal watchdog report. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Wednesday found the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) violated the Impoundment Control Act (ICA) by withholding more than $78 million in fiscal year 2025 after mass layoffs dismantled the agency’s grantmaking capabilities.
这项1974年颁布的法律规范了总统取消或延迟使用国会已批准联邦资金的方式。GAO指出：“我们得出结论，HHS在2025财年结束前拒绝承诺或使用超过7800万美元的拨款资金，属于资金扣留行为。我们进一步认为，这种扣留属于《资金冻结控制法》所定义的资金冻结，而非项目执行中的延迟。由于HHS并未提交特别说明提议撤销对AHRQ的拨款，其行动违反了该法案。”
The 1974 law regulates how the president can cancel or delay federal funds that Congress has already appropriated. “We conclude that HHS withheld funds when it declined to obligate or expend more than $78 million of its FY 2025 appropriation before the close of the fiscal year,” the GAO found. “We further conclude that this withholding constituted an impoundment under the ICA rather than a programmatic delay. Because HHS did not submit a special message proposing to rescind AHRQ funds, HHS’s actions violated the ICA.”
HHS尚未立即回应置评请求。行政部门无权自行决定国会已批准资金的用途。宪法并未赋予总统单方面扣留已批准拨款的权力。这项正式的法律裁决是在民主党议员于2025年7月该机构发生大规模解雇事件后，正式要求展开调查一年多之后作出的。当时，所有负责处理拨款的员工均被解雇。GAO表示，解雇事件发生后，AHRQ的资金承诺和支出速度放缓，导致2025财年结束时仍有7800万美元未使用的结余资金。
HHS did not immediately return a request for comment. The Executive Branch doesn’t have the authority to pick and choose where to spend congressionally appropriated funding. The Constitution grants the president no unilateral authority to withhold funds from obligation. The formal legal decision comes more than a year after Democratic lawmakers officially requested an investigation following mass firings from the agency in July 2025, including all employees who process grants. After the firings, AHRQ's obligation and expenditure of funds slowed, resulting in an unobligated balance of $78 million at the close of fiscal year (FY) 2025, GAO said.
AHRQ本有权自行决定资金分配方式，但GAO对预算文件的审查显示，该机构并未通过增加其他领域的资金来弥补拨款承诺率下降所带来的影响。
AHRQ had discretion to decide how to allocate its spending, but a GAO examination of budget documents showed that the agency did not increase funding elsewhere to compensate for the declining rate of grant obligations.
美国政府问责局（GAO）在其报告中写道：“综合来看，财政年度临近结束时仍有大量资金未予承诺、取消同行评审会议、机构裁员导致关键拨款人员离岗，以及管理层承认资金存在不确定性，这些情况表明该机构并无审慎使用资金的意图。”美国卫生与质量评估署（AHRQ）是一个规模相对较小的联邦机构，致力于让医疗服务更安全、更经济且更有效。
"Collectively, the substantial unobligated balance of funds near the close of the fiscal year, the cancellation of grant peer review sessions, the RIF separating key grant personnel from the agency, and admissions by agency management of funding uncertainty suggest a lack of intent to prudently obligate funds," the GAO wrote in its report. AHRQ is a relatively small federal agency dedicated to making healthcare safer, more affordable and more effective, and is estimated to have funded research that’s saved thousands of lives and billions of dollars over the past 27 years.
据估计，在过去27年里，其资助的研究已拯救了数千人的生命，并节约了数十亿美元。然而，该机构未能使用已拨款资金的问题仍在持续。国会今年为AHRQ拨款约3.45亿美元，但该机构今年7月告知研究人员，将暂停几乎所有此前已批准的拨款项目。上个月，白宫告知国会，计划从AHRQ的经费中追回2800万美元，作为更广泛行动的一部分，以取消各联邦机构近10亿美元的拨款。
But the agency’s failure to spend appropriated dollars continues. Congress allocated about $345 million for AHRQ this year, but the agency in July told researchers it was halting nearly every grant that had previously been awarded. Last month, the White House told Congress it intended to claw back $28 million of AHRQ funding as part of a broader move to cancel nearly $1 billion in federal funding across various agencies.
民主党人表示，他们已持续一年以上警告称，本届政府正在违法，并对此次调查结果使其问题正式化表示赞赏。参议院拨款委员会民主党领袖帕蒂·默里（华盛顿州）在一份声明中说：“这一决定证实了我们早已知道的事实：特朗普总统去年就点燃了健康研究资金的火苗，今年他显然又故技重施。”默里补充道：“这些研究拯救了数万人的生命，并节约了数十亿美元的健康护理成本，但特朗普总统和肯尼迪部长却执意违法切断资金，而国会中的共和党人几乎听之任之。国会早已该对本届政府扼杀救命健康研究的行为施加真正的后果——我将继续为此努力。”
Democrats said they have been sounding the alarm for over a year that the administration was breaking the law and applauded the findings for making it official. "This decision confirms what we’ve long known: President Trump lit health research funding on fire last year, and it’s clear as day he’s just done the same again this year," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a statement. "This is research that has saved tens of thousands of lives and saved billions of dollars in health care costs—but President Trump and Secretary Kennedy are intent on breaking the law to cut it off, and Republicans in Congress have all but let them do it," Murray added. "It’s past time Congress imposes real consequences on this administration for killing lifesaving health research—I’ll keep fighting to do just that."
在众议院，众议员……戴安娜·德盖特（民主党，科罗拉多州）、多丽丝·松井（民主党，加利福尼亚州）和唐·拜尔（民主党，弗吉尼亚州）呼吁共和党人要求“维护宪法”。民主党人在一份联合声明中表示：“政府单方面废除医疗研究与质量署的拨款运作，属于非法扣押国会已批准的资金。”“特朗普政府不能随意拒绝使用我们已授权用于拯救生命的医疗研究资源。共和党人必须与民主党人一起，要求维护宪法。”这些议员继续说道。
In the House, Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) called on Republicans to demand “the Constitution is upheld.”"The administration’s unilateral dismantling of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s grantmaking operations is an illegal impoundment of Congressionally appropriated funds," the Democrats said in a joint statement. "Trump’s administration cannot simply refuse to spend the resources we authorized for lifesaving health care research. Republicans must join Democrats in demanding that the Constitution is upheld," the lawmakers continued.