Senate Confirms Russell Vought as White House Budget Director “`

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U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is sworn in during the Senate Banking Committee nomination hearing in the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22, 2025.

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Russell Vought as White House budget director Thursday. This places a key figure in President Donald Trump’s expansion of executive power in a highly influential federal role.

Vought’s confirmation was along party lines, 53-47. Despite attempts by Democrats to explain their opposition during the vote, Senate rules prevented debate, and their comments were cut short by presiding officer Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL).

This vote followed Democrats’ unsuccessful attempt to block the nomination by holding the Senate floor for an extended period, calling Vought Trump’s “most dangerous nominee.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer described the confirmation as a “triple-header of disaster for hardworking Americans.”

Vought’s return to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a position he held during Trump’s first term, gives him significant power in implementing the President’s agenda. The OMB is central to developing the White House budget, policy priorities, and agency regulations. Vought’s prior involvement in Project 2025, a conservative plan for Trump’s second term, highlights his influence.

The OMB has already taken actions affecting federal spending, including a temporarily implemented federal spending freeze that was later rescinded due to legal challenges.

Senate Republicans supported Vought’s nomination, emphasizing his potential to reduce federal spending and regulations.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune supported the confirmation, stating Vought would address “cutting burdensome government regulations and addressing excessive spending.”

Vought has consistently advocated a strong conservative policy approach. After leaving the Trump administration, he founded the Center for Renewing America, a Washington think tank promoting Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda. He actively advised congressional Republicans on strategies to cut federal programs and spending.

In his writings for the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, Vought described the White House budget director’s role as reflecting the President’s priorities, likening the OMB to the President’s “air-traffic control system” with extensive policy influence and the power to “override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.”

During Trump’s first term, Vought sought to reclassify many federal workers as political appointees, potentially enabling widespread dismissals.

Vought also supported the President’s use of “impoundment” to enhance executive control over federal spending, a legal theory asserting the President’s power to withhold congressionally allocated funds deemed unnecessary.

While testifying, Vought affirmed his commitment to following the law but avoided directly answering Democratic questions regarding potential withholding of aid to Ukraine, leading Democrats to accuse him of believing the President is above the law.

In response to Republican questions, Vought hinted at potential budget cuts to discretionary social programs, citing the President’s focus on fiscal accountability and inflation.

Vought has openly promoted “Christian nationalism,” a concept gaining traction within the GOP, suggesting that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and should reflect this in government.

In a 2021 article, Vought described Christian nationalism as supporting an institutional separation of church and state but not a separation of Christianity’s influence on government and society.