WASHINGTON – Almost four years since Donald Trump first tapped him to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought was itching on Wednesday for his return to the White House.
For almost three hours during his confirmation hearing, Vought dodged and weaved to avoid one question after another from members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, obviously frustrating Democratic senators who see him as a quintessential bureaucrat and yes-man to Trump.
After leaving office in 2021, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank, and helped carve out Project 2025, a 900-page blueprint to reshape Trump’s second term agenda.
Trump spent the majority of his campaign attempting to distance himself from Project 2025. But, days before the start of Trump’s second administration, Vought’s appearance on Wednesday signaled that Project 2025 and its many policy prescriptions are alive and well.
“I’m not here as a think tank president, I’m here as a nominee,” Vought responded to a question from Senator Andy Kim (D – N.J.) about whether he and Trump plan to exercise their powers within the boundaries of the Constitution. “I’m here on his behalf and for his agenda.”
He dodged questions early on from Democrats accusing him of failing to spend money allocated by Congress during Trump’s first term. He doubled down on his goal to slash federal spending. And most of all, he promised to abide by Trump’s agenda, whatever that becomes.
Chief to Project 2025 is its argument to consolidate the federal branch and replace the federal workforce with political appointees. In the report’s chapter on executive power he wrote, Vought explains that the authority of the president over federal agencies should be absolute. When asked by Senator Bernie Moreno (R – Ohio) whether that is the reality today during Wednesday’s hearing, Vought pounced on the question.
“It’s not the case currently, but it is something that as a policy objective, I think our founders would have envisioned it that way,” Vought said.
Vought’s responses drew frequent rebuke from the Democratic aisle. A phalanx of eager senators took turns poking at examples when they claimed Vought sidestepped the Constitution.
Senator Gary Peters (R – Michigan) asserted that Vought and the OMB’s had violated the law when it withheld $214 million military aid to Ukraine in 2019, which Vought denied.
“How do we negotiate with someone who says I’m just going to do what I want? ‘To hell with the Constitution,’” Peters said.
Later, Vought declined to say if he would fully commit to earmarking congressionally-approved funds if appointed to the post.
Other Democratic senators took the opportunity to rail against Vought’s seemingly unwavering loyalty to Trump — wondering if he would preserve certain long-standing federal programs while weighing the tall task of slashing federal spending.
It wasn’t long before Vought’s familiar circles of circumvention earned the chagrin of Democratic senators. Republicans spent the afternoon mostly musing over ways Vought could curtail federal spending
Senator Ben Johnson sat in front of a chart that showed spending levels way up since the pandemic.
“Do you see any rationale to continue those spending levels,” Senator Ben Johnson (R-Wisconsin) asked Vought.
In his remarks, Vought, who is predicted to breeze through the rest of his confirmation process, reiterated his top priorities to cut federal funding and consolidate executive powers.
