Russell Vought, then-acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, takes a question during a news briefing at the White House on March 11, 2019. President-elect Donald Trump said Friday he would nominate Vought to lead the office in his second administration. . Alex Wong/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday invited Russell Vought to once again run the White House budget office, though it wasn’t entirely clear how the role will mesh with the government staffing and funding cuts envisioned by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Russ knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State and end Weaponized Government, and he will help us return Self Governance to the People,” Trump wrote in his announcement. “We will restore fiscal sanity to our Nation, and unleash the American People to new levels of Prosperity and Ingenuity.”
Vought is one of the authors of the wide-ranging conservative policy blueprint Project 2025. During the presidential campaign, Trump sought to distance himself from the document, even as Vought and other veterans of his first administration worked on it.
Vought, who worked as director of the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term, will be responsible for preparing the president’s annual budget request as well as any emergency spending proposals.
OMB is tasked with helping the president implement policy and oversees various aspects of the executive branch.
The office has influence over virtually all areas of policy and the director is typically the president’s top negotiator on Capitol Hill when it comes to the annual budget and appropriations process.
The president historically submits their budget request to Congress every February, but lawmakers are not bound to implement any aspect of it and often deviate, even during unified control of Washington.
The White House has limited authority to spend federal taxpayer dollars since the Constitution grants Congress the power of the purse.
Trump sought to get around Congress’ spending authority during his first administration, but was largely unsuccessful following legal challenges.
For example, withholding $250 million in aid to Ukraine led to Trump’s first impeachment and an opinion from the Government Accountability Office that the decision was a violation of federal law.
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” GAO wrote. “OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.”
Separation of powers questions
Trump stirred up questions and some concerns about the separation of powers after he said that Musk and Ramaswamy would lead an effort to cut government spending and federal employees.
Trump said he was putting the two in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, though Congress hasn’t established that as a federal department nor provided any funding for it.
There are several laws, including the Antideficiency Act and the Impoundment Control Act, that essentially tell the president they must follow the spending laws that Congress approves, though Trump hopes to get around those during his second term.
Vought at OMB will give the new Trump administration considerable expertise in the different authorities the executive and legislative branches hold under the Constitution.
He worked as deputy director before becoming the acting director and eventually OMB director during the first Trump administration.
Vought since established the Center for Renewing America, which has a mission of renewing “a consensus of America as a nation under God with unique interests worthy of defending that flow from its people, institutions, and history, where individuals’ enjoyment of freedom is predicated on just laws and healthy communities.”
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