Russ Vought Survives Democratic Protests, Confirmed to Lead Budget Office

Russell Vought, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, was confirmed by the Senate Thursday night on party lines by a margin of 53-47, as Democrat senators broke decorum by protesting against his confirmation as their names were called.

Almost every Democrats yelled in protest as the vote was called, each one saying on whose behalf they were voting against the confirmation.

“For our veterans, I vote no,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in protest, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said “For clean air and clean water, I vote no.”

These protests continued throughout the entire confirmation process, with the presiding officer slamming the mallet and saying, “Pursuant to rule 12, no debate is permitted during a vote” after each Democrat’s protest.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, referred to the protests as “VDS – Vought Derangement Syndrome” in a post on X.

A former member of Heritage Action and policy director for the House of Representatives’ Republican Conference, Vought, 48, will be picking up right where he left off during the first Trump administration as budget chief.

When Trump announced Vought’s nomination in November, he praised him for doing “an excellent job serving in this role in my First Term – We cut four Regulations for every new Regulation, and it was a Great Success!”

“Russ knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State and end Weaponized Government, and he will help us return Self Governance to the People. We will restore fiscal sanity to our Nation, and unleash the American People to new levels of Prosperity and Ingenuity,” Trump added in a Truth Social post.

Vought, who was confirmed along party lines, sparked outrage among Democrats throughout the confirmation process.

A major issue of Vought’s confirmation was his role in the first Trump administration in the development of “Schedule F,” a new classification for federal employees, which made them more directly accountable to the president and stripped them of protections against termination.

Vought’s Jan. 15 confirmation hearing was tense, with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., telling him, “I’m deeply concerned by another action you pushed for during your time in the OMB, to replace nearly 50,000 nonpartisan career civil servants with appointees whose only qualification is that they’re politically loyal—not that they’re competent, not that they follow the law.”

Democrats also criticized Vought for his support of the impoundment of federal funds, the concept that a president does not have to spend all of the money appropriated by Congress. 

Those issues reached a boiling point after Trump froze federal funds and entrepreneur Elon Musk worked to downsize federal agencies, such as USAID. 

Senate Democrats staged a protest to delay his confirmation, taking the floor for 30 hours to criticize the nominee, who they see as the “architect” of Trump’s ambitious plans for restructuring of the federal government.

“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure he doesn’t get confirmed,” said Peters in a video posted to X. “We know the Republicans have the votes, but we’re going to fight every step of the way.” 

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who after Kamala Harris’ presidential electoral defeat in November had said it was time to “rebuild the Left,” was another impassioned critic of Vought, speaking on the Senate floor from 2 to 5 a.m. in protest.

“Russ Vought is the architect of those plans to erode our democracy and to transfer wealth to the very powerful. He does not deserve to be the director of the Office of Budget and Management,” the Connecticut Democrat said.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., mocked the Democrats’ stonewalling, telling Fox News on Wednesday, “They can sit there and throw their temper tantrum if they want to. At the end of the day, we’re delivering the nominees that President Trump has put forth.”

Vought’s confirmation as budget chief is yet another step forward in Trump’s early, nonstop push to enact his agenda.

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