Senate Democrats Condemn Russ Vought’s OMB Nomination
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats vehemently opposed the nomination of Russ Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), citing his involvement in Project 2025, a conservative blueprint aiming to drastically reshape the federal government. They urged their colleagues to reject his nomination.
Vought, who served as OMB director during President Trump’s first term, authored the chapter on the executive office of the president within the Heritage Foundation’s nearly 900-page Project 2025 document. This plan gained significant attention during Trump’s campaign, with Democrats actively linking it to the then-candidate. Despite Trump’s repeated disavowals of Project 2025, he subsequently appointed several individuals associated with the project to his second administration.
During a Thursday press conference, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer characterized Vought as the “chief cook and bottle washer” of Project 2025, poised to implement its “dangerous proposals.” Schumer highlighted the critical nature of the OMB director’s role, emphasizing its impact on every federal agency, local economy, and American family. He argued that the position requires a deep understanding of the needs of working families, a quality he believes Vought lacks.
This sentiment was echoed by several Democrats on the Senate Committee on the Budget, including Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (Oregon), Senators Patty Murray (Washington), Tim Kaine (Virginia), and Ben Ray Luján (New Mexico). Senator Murray, also Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, stated that Vought’s actions clearly demonstrate his intention to drastically cut programs vital to citizens and undermine democratic checks and balances. She concluded that his “extremism and disdain for the rule of law” disqualify him from holding such a powerful position.
Vought’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Budget Committee took place on Wednesday. In a previous hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, he expressed his and President Trump’s belief in the president’s unilateral authority to withhold congressionally approved funds through impoundment—a power the U.S. Government Accountability Office explicitly denies the president possesses. President Trump, in announcing Vought’s nomination, praised his past performance as OMB director, describing him as an “aggressive cost cutter and deregulator” who would advance the “America First Agenda.”
Attribution: Shauneen Miranda, Minnesota Reformer, January 23, 2025. (Note: The provided text contained duplicate author and date information; this has been consolidated.)