The Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday for Russell Vought, one of Washington's most ardent proponents of spending cuts, foreshadowed the bitter spending wars that will engulf Congress this year.
Vought, who was nominated by President-elect Trump to head the Office of Management and Budget, served in the role during President Trump's first term and took the reins of the agency during the longest government shutdown in history in 2018 and 2019. Before that, he claimed: A brinkmanship tactic aiming for policy victory.
He also advocated using military construction funds appropriated by Congress to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and withholding funding for Ukraine, two issues that were at the center of his heated hearings. surfaced.
Vought, who served as executive director of the House Republican Study Committee when it was then the Freedom Caucus, has disrupted House debates over spending more than Republican leaders have agreed to bipartisan deals. The government is seen as ideologically aligned with the fiscal conservatives who have supported the government.
Despite concerns from some Republicans concerned about his involvement in Project 2025, the conservative policy strategy that caused controversy in last year's election, he will remain in the Senate along with other Trump nominees. It is expected that this will proceed to the point of approval.
Mr. Vought has been a leading proponent of converting thousands of federal employees to “Schedule F,” a move that would have made President Trump and his lieutenants hesitant to implement Mr. Trump's bold initiative. , would be able to fire thousands of nonpolitical federal employees.
Fiscal conservatives are eager to create a White House budget director who would draw a hard line with Congress on spending.
“We have the strength of character like Mr. Vought to step up, put down the hammer and say, 'Enough is enough,'” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the conference's chairman. We need someone with that.” The Homeland Security Committee hosted Mr. Vought's confirmation hearing.
Paul, a leading budget hawk, called Vought a “consistent champion of fiscal integrity” and predicted she would be “swiftly confirmed.”
If confirmed, Vought would play a leading role in negotiating a government spending deal that Congress needs to pass by March 14 to avoid a government shutdown.
Vought advocated pushing the fiscal year 2025 spending bill through the new Congress to give President Trump and the Senate Republican majority more say in maximum spending and funding priorities.
In an interview with Real America's Voice in September, he said that if President Biden were to pass an omnibus spending package while he was still in office, Trump would be “awakened and weaponized” for a quarter of his second term. He warned that “a high-level bureaucracy” would be providing funds to the federal government.
Vought will play a central role in implementing deep spending cuts recommended by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-chairs of Trump's new Office of Government Efficiency.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday slammed Vought over his past support for using government shutdowns to win policy concessions.
In a pointed exchange with the candidate, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D.N.H.) said, “Mr. Vought, you have repeatedly called for brinkmanship on government shutdowns and a bipartisan agreement to keep the government open.'' I have been against it,” he said.
“For example, in 2011, you wrote in an article that Republicans needed to be prepared to shut down the government, dig deep and embrace a kind of brinkmanship that showed they were fighting to win. “I wrote that,” she said.
Vought distanced himself from those comments, insisting he wanted to play a constructive role in helping Congress pass an annual spending bill, something it failed to do last year.
“Senator, I don't think I'm the person who wanted a government shutdown. For the longest government shutdown in history, I had to be the one who kept the government open according to the law. “We know the impact it will have on the federal government,” he said, referring to the 35-day government shutdown during President Trump's first term sparked by a dispute over funding for a wall on the southern border.
But Mr. Hassan and other Democrats on the committee appear unconvinced that Mr. Vought would back away from bare-handed tactics as President Trump's budget director.
“Unfortunately, this is a situation where there appears to be some kind of confirmation shift happening, because your words in articles and speeches reflect different views on the use of government shutdowns.” she stated.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, slammed Vought for supporting using presidential power to rein in Congressional spending.
In an interview with Fox Business last year, Vought said the “loss of foreclosure authority” was “the original sin of eliminating the ability to control spending on a branch-by-branch basis.”
“We're going to have to get it back,” he said.
This view drew a severe rebuke from Peters.
“Throughout your tenure at OMB, you have consistently ignored the laws passed by Congress that dictate how taxpayer money is spent,” he said.
He said the budget office under Vought violated the law eight times during President Trump's first term, including directing certain federal agencies to perform work during the 2018-2019 shutdown. He pointed to a study by the General Accounting Office (GAO) that found that
He also cited another GAO finding that Vought's budget office violated the law by withholding a vital security presence for Ukraine.
“If you are confirmed again to head OMB, will you commit to complying with the law and not allowing OMB to withhold funds from programs appropriated by Congress?” Peters demanded.
Mr. Vought disputed the GAO's finding of his actions as OMB director, noting that Mr. Trump had argued during the campaign that the Seizure Control Act, which prohibits the president from withholding Congressional funds, was unconstitutional.
“We have seen the extent to which this law contributes to waste, fraud and abuse,” he said.
He said whether President Trump asserts foreclosure powers to block Congress from funding certain priorities “will be something his team will have to consider once the policy is approved.” said. [their] role. ”
