Councilman Brian Kazy Raises Alarm about Political Takeover of Federal Grantmaking Process

Jul 20, 2026

CLEVELAND, OHIO—On Monday, July 13, 2026, Cleveland City Councilman Brian Kazy submitted a three-page letter to Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought outlining his opposition to proposed revisions to the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance, which governs $1.1 trillion in federal grantmaking across all government sectors. The OMB posted this proposal and opened public comment on May 29, 2026.

“The OMB’s proposed changes are a political takeover of the federal grantmaking process,” Kazy said, explaining his rationale for issuing the letter. “They would give presidential political appointees complete control over federal grantmaking.”

“This is a dangerous proposal,” Kazy warned. "Federal grants support critical projects in science, education, and infrastructure. Do we really want political appointees overriding doctors and canceling criminal trials or telling physicists how to manage nuclear waste?"

“America has been working for decades toward building a merit-based grantmaking system that funds good projects doing important things with high chances of success,” Kazy added. “These proposals would erase that progress and make politics and ideology once again the driving forces behind federal funding of local projects.”

“It’s terrifying that we’re spending more time talking about the reflecting pool than we are about possibly allowing more than a trillion dollars in federal grants to be distributed according to political whims.”

In his letter to Vought, Kazy praised the few changes in the proposal that would streamline the federal grantmaking process and make it more transparent. However, he strongly objected to most of the proposal’s provisions, including those:

  • Putting political appointees in charge of grant funding within federal agencies.
  • Letting those political appointees arbitrarily control how funds are spent, even after grant awards have been made.
  • Giving agencies the power to suspend, cancel, or change any grant at any time without warning or justification.
  • Limiting fee speech by requiring that grantees do nothing to significantly damage the reputation of the awarding federal agency and the federal government.
  • Letting agencies consider a “history of questionable practices”—however the agency defines it—when determining a possible grantee’s eligibility.
“This gives the President enormous power to choose what should and shouldn’t be funded, regardless of the will of Congress,” Kazy said. “We need federal funding to address critical needs in our city. This proposal would effectively end local control and threaten the funding eligibility of programs that have been adapted to Cleveland’s situation.”

Kazy took a dim view of the motivation behind the proposed changes. “They’re railroading us to get this done before anyone notices,” Kazy said. “They gave us 45 days to comment on the proposal and 79 days to implement it once the comment period closed.”

In addition to being a member of Cleveland City Council, Councilman Kazy is a Board Member of the National League of Cities (NLC) Public Safety and Crime Prevention Federal Advocacy Committee, and he sits on NLC’s Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee. 

Councilman Kazy’s letter to Director Vought is available here.

To read more about the NLC’s position on these proposed changes, please visit New OMB Rules for Grantees Could Override Local Authority - National League of Cities.