Russ Vought, champion of Schedule F and slashing agency budgets, wins confirmation to OMB – Government Executive
Russell Vought during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs confirmation hearing on Jan. 15, 2025. Now that he is confirmed, Vought is poised to play a pivotal role in plans to reduce the size of the federal government and federal spending.
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Eric Katz
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Russ Vought to serve as Office of Management and Budget director, sending back to the White House a veteran of the role who has garnered controversy for his adversarial tactics with the federal workforce and his openness to subverting federal spending laws. Vought, who served as OMB director at the end of President Trump’s first term, won approval in a party-line vote after Senate Democrats held the floor speaking out against the nominee overnight Wednesday and throughout the day Thursday. Lawmakers cautioned against Vought’s influence in the White House and suggested he would bring about new attacks on federal workers. They highlighted that OMB already attempted to freeze large swaths of federal funding before a court intervened and noted that Vought declined to rule out ignoring congressional appropriations. Vought won plaudits from Republicans for his experience and willingness to work with them to cut the size of government. Democrats, meanwhile, said Vought was at the very top of their list of Trump nominees they hoped to sink. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., criticized Vought for saying prior to his renomination that he wanted federal employees to be “put in trauma” and be “viewed as the villains.” “Is there a single manager or leader or organizational chief that we admire who believes that their mission, their happiness, their glee, their purpose is to make their workforce feel traumatized?” Kaine said on the Senate floor. “No, we would never celebrate a leader of that kind.” Vought drew bipartisan criticism in his confirmation hearing for his refusal to confirm he would follow congressional spending laws when distributing funds to agencies, noting Trump has called existing restrictions unconstitutional and he would follow the president’s directives. He declined to rule out violating the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, the law prohibits the executive branch from withholding congressionally appropriated funds for policy reasons. Democrats have suggested the Trump administration has already repeatedly violated the ICA with its short-lived funding freeze and its ongoing pause of spending as called for in Trump’s executive orders. Trump has reinstated his policy originally known as Schedule F, which could strip tens of thousands of federal employees of their civil service protections and make them vulnerable to political loyalty tests. Vought was one of the lead architects of that plan and called it a “sound policy” during his confirmation hearing.“It is to ensure that the president, who has policy-setting responsibility, has individuals who are also confidential, policy-making positions are responding to his views, his agenda,” Vought said. “And it works under the same basis that most Americans work on, which is they have to do a good job or they may not be in those positions for longer.”Vought served as OMB’s deputy director from early in the first Trump administration until he took over as acting OMB head in January 2019. He was confirmed by the Senate for that post in July 2020. During his tenure, Vought repeatedly submitted budgets that would have gutted non-defense agencies and has pledged to work with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency this time around to slash federal spending. The former White House official played a key role in implementing Trump’s deregulatory agenda, including by removing agencies’ capacity to issue guidance without going through the formal rulemaking process. Vought also drew controversy when he oversaw the longest shutdown in U.S. history and took unprecedented action to keep agencies functioning despite the appropriations lapse, an approach that later drew rebuke from the Government Accountability Office. Toward the end of his tenure, Vought helped implement a Trump order to rid much of the federal government of diversity and inclusion efforts and threatened to discipline employees who participated in them. The Trump administration is currently in the process of removing those employees from government. Vought won unanimous approval from Senate Republicans despite some concerns from members of the caucus about the Trump administration’s approach to date on funding issues. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the Senate’s top appropriator, criticized OMB’s budget freeze and suggested Trump overstepped his constitutional authorities in shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development, but still voted to approve him. After leaving office, Vought helped stand up the Center for Renewing America and has consistently railed against what he views as the outsized role of federal civil servants have in implementing law. He has bemoaned federal workers for dragging their feet in implementing Trump administration policy during the former president’s first term and has advocated for increased accountability to prevent that from occurring again.Vought has suggested a second Trump term would be rife with widespread layoffs of federal employees, though he clarified during his confirmation hearing he was not sure such plans would be shared by the administration. Related articlesDems say thwarting Trump’s controversial OMB pick is a top priorityTrump’s pick for OMB chief defends removing civil service protections, withholding appropriated fundsTrump expected to tap Schedule F architect promising widespread federal layoffs to head OMB
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