A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reveal legally binding plans to spend congressionally appropriated funds today in a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington against Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and the Office of Management and Budget. CREW represented itself alongside Public Citizen Litigation Group.

In response to a previous order in the case, OMB posted thousands of apportionments it had approved since its abrupt removal in March 2025 of the legally required database, but in many instances it still controlled agency spending in secret through “spend plans” it incorporated by reference in legally binding footnotes that it withheld from the public. CREW and Public Citizen Litigation Group subsequently filed a motion to enforce, asking the district court to require that OMB make public the contents of those spend plans that included hidden conditions on spending and rules for apportioned funds.

“Transparency won today,” said CREW President Donald K. Sherman. “Vought and OMB tried to dodge accountability and leave the American public in the dark by burying the real information the public needed in secret spend plans in footnotes, and we could not let that slide. We are grateful for the Court’s thorough decision which will ensure Americans know exactly how their government is spending—or not spending—their tax dollars.”

In at least 131 apportionment documents OMB approved between March and September, it included hidden rules in these incorporated spend plans. Those plans, which included legally binding terms for apportioned money, were not made public. Any individual or organization without access to the amounts and terms in these undisclosed yet legally binding plans could not rely on the “apportioned” amounts in the publicly posted documents to be accurate.

“At every opportunity in this case, the Trump administration tried to leave the public in the dark, regardless of what the law mandated,” said Sherman. “CREW asked the court to step in again and force OMB to release everything: the numbers, the terms and the spending plans, and we will watch closely to make sure this order is followed.”

Read the court's order here.