The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has restored $4.3 million in funding to the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), following pressure from Senator Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The funding supports CIGIE’s work as an independent federal watchdog group responsible for investigating alleged misconduct, corruption, and misuse of federal funds. CIGIE also operates a confidential hotline and website for whistleblowers.
Senator Cantwell had sent a letter in October 2025 to OMB Director Russell Vought demanding that he release the funds which she said were illegally withheld. In her statement after the restoration of funds, Cantwell said: “I’m glad OMB restored $4.3 million in funding to the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), as I demanded in my October 6 letter to OMB Director Vought. But let me be clear: This funding never should have been withheld in the first place. Director Vought’s illegal action undermined CIGIE’s ability to perform its essential functions and whistleblowers’ ability to confidentially raise concerns. We should be bolstering our efforts to combat waste, fraud, and corruption—not weakening them.”
In her earlier letter to Vought, Cantwell emphasized that Congress had already appropriated funding for these whistleblower resources, including during government shutdowns. She wrote: “OMB is withholding these funds even though Congress has already appropriated funding to support these vital whistleblower resources, even during a government shutdown. In other words, it appears the Trump Administration is not only illegally withholding congressional funding once again; it is choosing to undermine efforts to prevent corruption and combat misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
CIGIE provides oversight for several agencies through its whistleblower hotline and website, including services for inspectors general at organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
