Russell T. Vought, who led the Office of Management and Budget during the first Trump administration, took steps to expand the number of federal employees required to work during the government shutdown and froze military aid to Ukraine. , strongly criticized the “wasteful expenditure” of foreign funds. Aid from other countries and union organizing.
Vought, who was nominated by President-elect Donald J. Trump to be the next budget director, has since developed a broader view of the role of the White House budget director.
Mr. Vought has made clear in his books and speeches that he sees this role as an opportunity to significantly downsize the federal government. He wants to cut staff and assert “seizure” powers that would allow the executive branch to defund Congress-authorized agencies and overhaul the so-called administrative state.
Vought publicly asserted his qualifications to lead the Budget Office again on Wednesday, testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He said he believes laws that prohibit the executive branch from withdrawing funds approved by Congress are unconstitutional, and that the Trump administration may seek to seize funds it believes are being spent improperly. suggested.
Vought dodged a question during the hearing about whether Trump would defer to Congress' will to authorize federal spending, but made it clear the president-elect intends to test the law.
“No, I don't think it's constitutional,” Vought said of the Seizure Control Act of 1974, which reaffirmed Congress' funding powers. “The president acted on that view. That's his view, and I agree with that.”
Vought's comments drew condemnation from Democrats on the committee.
“I am shocked and appalled that someone in this responsible position would effectively say that the president is above the law,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut.
If confirmed, Vought would be more than just a number cruncher in the second Trump administration. He could play a key role in pursuing Mr. Trump's policy of shrinking the federal government.
In an interview with conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson in November, Vought described the Office of Management and Budget as the “heart” of the federal government and a tool for taming bureaucracy.
“We have the ability to stop the spending that's happening at the agency,” Vought said. “All the regulations are being applied to evaluate whether it's good or bad, or too expensive, or whether it can be done differently.”
This agency may be little known, but it is a very powerful government department. The agency was established in 1921 as the Bureau of Budget within the Department of the Treasury and redesignated in 1970 as the Office of Management and Budget.
But that responsibility extends far beyond the president's budgeting and spending priorities. The department has the authority to review all federal regulations that agencies create to implement laws passed by Congress. Government agencies have wide discretion in how to interpret the law, often increasing the final legal cost.
“It's a lot more powerful than people realize,” says John Koskinen, who served as deputy administrator at the Budget Office in the 1990s and later became commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. “It sounds very bureaucratic, but most people don't realize how central it is to the operation of government.”
Mr. Vought will bring a partisan and ideological perspective to the agency. A longtime fiscal hawk and self-described Christian nationalist, he previously worked for groups including Heritage Action for America, the House Republican Conference and the Republican Study Committee.
Stephen Moore, a conservative economist who has advised Mr. Trump, said Mr. Vought will be more effective in the role this time around because he knows the inner workings of the federal government and executive branch.
“He's a guy with expertise,” Moore said. “If there's one thing about Washington, it's that knowledge is power.”
After leaving office, Vought founded the conservative think tank Center for Renewing America and was the architect of Project 2025. The document was an effort by conservative groups to develop detailed policy ideas and executive actions that Mr. Trump could take. Dismantle and restructure the executive branch in a way that strengthens the power of the president.
The legal basis for this topic is a maximalist version of the so-called unitary executive theory, which rejects the idea that the government is made up of three separate but equal branches, and denies presidential authority over federal agencies. claims to be absolute.
Vought is expected to have broad support from Senate Republicans, but faced a barrage of questions from skeptical Democrats about Trump's actions during his first term and his recent views.
As Russia's war in Ukraine continues to rage, the fate of US economic and military aid has become a top concern. Vought was involved in freezing aid to Ukraine while serving as acting budget director in 2019, before the war began.
The handling of the funds was opposed by some career Budget Office officials and was a central issue in Trump's first impeachment. Mr. Trump sent security assistance to force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce a corruption investigation into Joseph R. Biden Jr., who was seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Mr. Trump in the general election. He is accused of using it as leverage.
Asked if he would release funds already authorized for Ukraine, Vought said: “I'm not going to get ahead of the president on foreign policy issues of the gravity of the situation in Ukraine.”
In Trump's second term, Vought is likely to work closely with the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body founded by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
And Mr. Vought is a strong supporter of Mr. Trump reinstating Schedule F. Schedule F is an executive order issued late in Trump's presidency that gives the Trump administration the power to convert tens of thousands of civil servants to “at-will” employees, which should allow it to hire more civil servants. It was. Easily fired and replaced with political appointees.
In a speech he gave after leaving the White House and unearthed by ProPublica last year, Vought described career civil servants as villains and said, “We want to traumatize them.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Vought said his comments reflected sentiments he has expressed repeatedly in public over the years.
In addition to questions about Project 2025, which Democrats tried to link to Trump during the campaign, Vought's views on the budget will also be scrutinized. In late 2022, he unveiled a budget blueprint aimed at reducing debt by nearly $9 trillion over 10 years through deep spending cuts and “dismantling a woke and weaponized bureaucracy.”
Many of the proposals, including cuts to military spending, will face opposition in Congress. Some ideas, such as reducing sick pay for veterans when they reach retirement age, would probably be a political non-starter. The plan does not call for direct cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits, but it does target disability benefits and Medicare payments to health care providers. They would also impose significant cuts to Medicaid.
When pressed about these policy positions, Vought repeatedly said they should be ignored and focused on Trump's policies.
“I'm not here representing my views, but I'm here representing the president,” Vought said.
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