MADISON, WI – Yesterday, Bloomberg Government profiled U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) and his goals for the House Appropriations’ Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee:

Russell Vought Leads Key House Democrat’s 2027 Oversight Targets

Democrats’ fight with the Trump administration over the power of the purse is set to reach new heights if the party wins control of the House in November, with Rep. Mark Pocan playing a key role.

Pocan, who’s in line to be the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee next year, is planning to leverage his panel’s broad jurisdiction to pursue a litany of oversight targets. Agencies at the center of the White House’s agenda, including the Office of Management and Budget, the IRS, and the Federal Communications Commission, could all be in the crosshairs.

“There’s a lot of areas of oversight that are going to be necessary,” Pocan said in an interview. The subcommittee “gives us a lot of jurisdiction in the areas that Donald Trump, I think, has abused the role of the presidency.”

Investigations are expected to be rife in a potential House Democratic majority, but appropriators would be in a unique position since the second Trump administration has heavily leveraged the federal funding process to enact its agenda.

“A lot of the work that happens first may come through the committees that have oversight,” Pocan said. “And we certainly would have the best forensic oversight over the dollars that are spent or moved around by the White House.”

OMB, DOGE

Chief among Pocan’s priorities is pushing back against attempts by OMB Director Russell Vought and the White House to cancel or withhold money provided by Congress. Programs related to foreign aid, science, and health research, among others, have all had some funding withheld by OMB in a process known as impoundment.The Wisconsin Democrat noted the FSGG subcommittee directly controls OMB’s budget and could compel the agency’s officials to testify.

“They’re breaking 250 years of practice where they’re stealing the funds that go against what the Constitution says,” Pocan said. “Congress as a whole needs to step up but certainly we can step up in doing some of that work.”

OMB’s moves to redirect money from certain accounts to others, such as when the agency earlier this year shifted almost $400 million toward White House security measures from Republicans’ domestic tax and spending law, will be another focal point for the panel. Democrats have questioned whether that money would go toward construction of President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom.

“Anything in that area, we’re going to look at,” Pocan said. “If you look at the ballroom in and of itself, it’s something that hasn’t been approved by Congress.”

Pocan said he wants Vought to be on a “regular rotation through the committee given his outsized role.” Vought oversees the distribution of the funding Congress provides to every agency.

Spokespeople for OMB didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pocan also said he wants to look into Elon Musk’s now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency and its effects on the federal workforce, including more transparency on the funding it went after. Vought, in response to a question from Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio.), said in June OMB has no plans to issue a closing report on DOGE.

“We need a little more accountability,” Pocan said. “We need to know the chaotic nature of what DOGE did and ultimately, did it cost us more than it actually provided any savings?”

Justices, IRS, FCC

Pocan plans to bring more Trump administration officials before the panel. The FSGG subcommittee has held hearings this year with Vought, Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan, and the heads of the Small Business Administration and Office of Personnel Management, but the committee’s reach could be far broader. Democratic appropriators have criticized Republicans for not holding more oversight hearings with White House officials.

Supreme Court justices should testify more often before lawmakers, Pocan said, adding that there’s bipartisan support for members of the court to come to the Capitol on a regular basis.

The panel has had private hearings and talks with some administration officials, such as IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, Pocan said, but he wants more officials to testify publicly. Pocan argued FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in particular has politicized his agency.

“A lot of these folks have not come before the committee,” Pocan said. “We’ve seen a lot of abuses in various agencies that supposedly had oversight over Trump family ventures and other things.”

– Ken Tran