On February 6, the Senate confirmed Russell Vought as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought’s nomination was heavily contested, primarily due to his history as the co-author of Project 2025, an extreme conservative agenda listing Trump’s priorities for his second term.
Project 2025, created by the Heritage Foundation, a prominent right-wing think tank, calls for the president to have direct control over the entire federal bureaucracy. Under this total executive control, Project 2025 also aims to eliminate federal employee job protections, erase DEI from federal programs, militarize the southern border, and instill a nationwide ban on abortion. Vought contributed to Project 2025 by writing the key chapter on the executive office and also served as the Republican National Committee’s 2024 platform policy director.
Democrats were unsurprisingly appalled by Vought’s nomination, as the position would give him complete control over the $7 trillion federal budget. As Democrat Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) described him, many view Vought as, “the most radical nominee, who has the most extreme agenda.” Some Democrats even suspected him as having been behind Trump’s order to freeze the federal budget. “Russ Vought was the puppet master,” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) claimed, “behind the funding shut down that threw this country into chaos.”
Russel Vought wrote a disastrous budget proposal during Trump’s first term that would have been devastating for millions of working Americans.
He sees no value in helping the American people.
As head of OMB, we know it’ll be even worse during Trump 2.0. We’re fighting back. pic.twitter.com/XjvgAfO1Ip
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) February 6, 2025
Despite their significant dissent, holding the floor overnight with opposing speeches, Democrats still remained the minority in the house and could not prevail. They even reportedly attempted to deliver their reasoning while casting their “no” votes, only for Senator Ashley Moody (R-FL) to gavel them down, citing the Senate rule banning debate during voting. Ultimately, the Republican vote for Vought’s confirmation prevailed 53-47.
The position of budget chief holds significant responsibility and potential for major change, as the Office of Management and Budget essentially dictates the policy priorities and agency rule-making of the White House. Vought clearly understands the power of this position and intends to use it to further Trump’s extreme agenda previewed in Project 2025. Vought even wrote in Project 2025 that the budget chief’s job is, “the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind.”
Beyond his work with Project 2025, Vought demonstrated a significant desire to slash the federal budget during Trump’s first term. He began a push to reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers as political appointees, laying the groundwork for mass dismissals. He additionally advocated for the president’s use of “impoundment,” a legal theory asserting that the president can decide not to spend money on actions he deems “necessary”: the goal of this theory is ultimately to expand executive control over federal spending. Vought affirmed his employment of this law during his confirmation hearings.
