Terry Gross

So let's get into what we just heard Russell Vogt say.

I'll start with federal agencies.

Why are they such a big target for Vogt?

Okay, so he says that the agencies aren't mentioned in the Constitution, and therefore they don't necessarily even have a right to exist, if I'm hearing him correctly.

What is mentioned in the Constitution is the separation of powers between the president, the judiciary, and Congress.

He thinks, according to the clip we just heard, that the president should be involved directly with the judiciary.

Does that violate the Constitution?

Why is Congress allowing the president to limit the power of Congress?

Why are Republican congressmen standing for that?

Russell Vogt also wants the president to be able to fire federal workers who don't adhere to the president's agenda.

And part of his rationale is that federal workers weren't elected, so the president should be able to fire them like any boss can fire an employee.

Vogt wasn't elected either.

So where does his power come from?

Is he that powerful as the director of the Office of Management and Budget?

Does Vogt, as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, get to veto budgets that come across his desk?

Does he have any kind of final say over how money is dispensed?

And after the money is frozen, does it expire at the end of Congress's term?

So in full disclosure, I should mention that Congress had voted funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes federal funding to public radio and public TV.

But then Vote had asked Congress to rescind that money, to claw it back, and they did.

So is that kind of thing unprecedented?