A Los Angeles lawmaker is seeking to impeach White House budget director Russell Vought, following recent revelations that the Trump administration acknowledged in court documents to canceling funding for clean energy projects in Democratic states “based solely” on their political leanings, including how the majority of voters in those states voted in the 2024 presidential election.
California was among the 16 states targeted and, according to the office of Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, more than six dozen projects in California risk losing funding as a result.
On Thursday, Aug. 6, Kamlager-Dove introduced articles of impeachment against Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, on charges of alleged abuse of power and “failure to faithfully execute the laws of the United States.”
“Vought has repeatedly and openly broken the law to stroke Trump’s fragile ego. The administration’s own admission that it terminated federal funding to states that voted against Trump in 2024 is just the latest example,” Kamlager-Dove, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.
“These nakedly partisan schemes to punish Democratic voters ultimately hurt families and workers of all political stripes. … Vought’s blatant abuse of power and complete disregard for the Constitution warrants immediate removal by Congress,” she added.
A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, instead directing questions to the Office of Management and Budget, which is housed under the Executive Office. A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment.
It was revealed in July that the Trump administration had acknowledged in court documents that the cancellation of $7.6 billion in grants for hundreds of clean energy projects in a number of states was “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state.”
That contradicted previous assertions by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other officials that the projects were canceled because they didn’t sufficiently advance the country’s energy needs or were otherwise considered a poor investment of taxpayer dollars.
Democrats at the time of the revelation urged congressional Republicans to join in holding the Trump administration “accountable for the president’s failure to look out for all Americans.”
Speaker Mike Johnson’s office did not immediately respond Thursday to a message asking if he would support an impeachment vote against Trump’s budget director.
Should the Republican-controlled House decide to move forward with the impeachment process — which is certainly not guaranteed to happen — the case would then move to the Senate.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the House has the authority to formally charge, or impeach, a federal official, while the Senate has the power to try a case and render a verdict on whether the person should be removed from office or banned from holding future office.
To remove someone from office, two-thirds of the senators voting must agree to convict the individual. Or, the Senate could decide to disqualify an officer from holding future federal office with a simple majority vote.
Vought was a key architect of Project 2025, considered a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second administration.
He led the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term and was confirmed by a vote of 53-47, along party lines, in the U.S. Senate in February 2025 to return as head of OMB for Trump’s second term.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.