White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought’s first appearance testifying before Congress was interrupted Wednesday by HIV/AIDS advocates protesting the Trump administration’s delay in funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Shortly after Vought began his opening remarks to the House Budget Committee, Charles King, CEO of AIDS non-profit Housing Works, began shouting “PEPFAR saves lives: spend the money!” from the gallery, the Washington Blade reports. Other demonstrators, including former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and PEPFAR staffers, joined him, holding signs reading “Vought’s cuts kill people with AIDS,” and “Protect PEPFAR from Vought.”

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King and other demonstrators were removed from the room, but they continued to protest outside, causing the hearing to pause for a second time. Six people were arrested, according to The Guardian.  

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Wednesday’s protest is just the latest against the administration’s efforts, since the president returned to office in January 2025, to reshape and dismantle U.S. foreign aid, including PEPFAR. Since its 2003 launch, it is estimated to have saved tens of millions of lives by funding HIV prevention and treatment in low-income countries. The administration’s cuts have forced organizations and programs to scale back their operations, and it’s estimated that 780,000 people died during 2025 alone as a result, according to the Guardian. The outlet also cites a July 2025 study from The Lancet, which estimates that the cuts could result in 14 million deaths by 2030.  

Last August, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Vought, the key author of Project 2025, would oversee the shutdown of USAID, previously the primary government agency responsible for implementing PEPFAR.

The administration also tried to claw back $400 million in congressionally appropriated funding for PEPFAR as part of the President’s 2025 $9.4 billion rescission package. Congress rejected that request. While lawmakers approved $4.6 billion in funding for the program this year, HIV/AIDS advocates say Vought has withheld the majority of funds, jeopardizing programs and organizations’ efforts to combat the disease, the Guardian reports.

“There are trickles of funds getting out, but it’s in stop-and-start constantly,” Asia Russell, executive director of Health Gap, told the outlet. “They’re only permitting the funding to go out in a drip-feed fashion.”

During his appearance before the House Budget Committee Wednesday, Vought admitted that U.S. foreign aid cuts have been made for ideological reasons. “Many of our concerns on the foreign aid … it was because they were going through NGOs that don’t share this administration’s perspective on a host of issues,” he said, according to the Guardian.

The outlet notes that in September, the U.S. Government Accountability Office determined that withheld funding had been illegally impounded in violation of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act. Vought noted on Wednesday that the administration’s position is that the Impoundment Control Act is “unconstitutional.”

Health Gap’s Russell, however, told the outlet that Vought “is defying the will of Congress” by not releasing the appropriated funds.

“This is wildly out of step with the way appropriations operates, which is: Congress is in charge,” Russell said. “The administration is breaking all of those rules. They are sabotaging the program now.”

“Russell Vought is directly responsible for illegally withholding Congressionally appropriated funds for PEPFAR and related global health initiatives,” King said in a statement, according to the Blade. “These funding disruptions have already contributed to preventable deaths and threaten to reverse decades of progress in the fight against HIV worldwide. Enough is enough. Congress must ensure Vought stops this deadly sabotage.”

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