WASHINGTON — AIDS activists twice halted U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought's testimony before the House Budget Committee in Washington on Wednesday, protesting Trump administration cuts to global AIDS aid. The disruption came during Vought's first appearance before House lawmakers since becoming OMB director 15 months ago.

Activists and former USAID employees interrupted the hearing shortly after Vought began speaking, shouting "Pepfar saves lives – spend the money." They held signs reading "Protect Pepfar from Vought" and "Vought cuts kill people with Aids." Six people were arrested in connection with the disruption. After being removed from the hearing room, the protesters' chants could still be heard from the corridor outside.

The Trump administration has cut global aid, including the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a program created by President George W. Bush that receives bipartisan support in Congress. Congress allocated $4.6 billion to Pepfar in the current fiscal year. The administration requested a $400 million rescission for Pepfar, but Congress rejected the request. In September, the Government Accountability Office determined that funds had been impounded in violation of the Impoundment Control Act.

"As you probably know, we are not fans of the Impoundment Control Act. We think it's unconstitutional." Vought said during the hearing. He cited dismantling USAID as one of his accomplishments and said the cuts were made for ideological reasons because they went through NGOs that did not share the administration's perspective on various issues.

In the previous year, the administration cut nearly all USAID funding despite Congress having fully appropriated the funds. In August, Secretary of State Marco Rubio handed over leadership of USAID to Vought to oversee the closeout of the agency. For fiscal year 2027, the president's budget proposal would end all HIV work and reduce global health spending by 46 percent.

Asia Russell, executive director of Health Gap, said Vought was acting outside established congressional authority. "He [Vought] is defying the will of Congress. This is wildly out of step with the way appropriations operates, which is: Congress is in charge. The administration is breaking all of those rules. They are sabotaging the program now."

"There are trickles of funds getting out, but it's in stop-and-start constantly," Russell said. "They're only permitting the funding to go out in a drip-feed fashion. Standing still is moving backwards."

A study in the Lancet projects that by 2030, the funding cuts will be associated with 14 million deaths, including 4.5 million among children. According to Impact Counter, an estimated 262,915 adults and 518,428 children died in the first year of cuts to aid.