Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024 | 2 a.m.
The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate faces a difficult decision as it considers the nomination of Russell Vought to direct the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This choice is not just another appointment; it represents an alarming pivot toward centralizing authoritarian power under Donald Trump.
Vought, a key architect of the radical and dystopian Project 2025, has openly advocated for reshaping the OMB into a tool of executive overreach, undermining the delicate balance of powers that has safeguarded the United States for over two centuries.
Vought’s record is a clear warning sign. As OMB director during Trump’s first term, Vought pursued an aggressive agenda to weaken the professional civil service, expand presidential authority and push partisan goals. Since leaving office, he has been a central figure in crafting Project 2025, a 922-page manifesto that outlines a blueprint for consolidating presidential control over federal agencies, bypassing Senate oversight and replacing tens of thousands of experienced civil servants with people whose only qualification is their fealty to Trump.
Despite Trump’s manipulative and dishonest efforts to distance himself from Project 2025 during his presidential campaign — claiming during a campaign debate that he had no connection to it and was unfamiliar with its contents — his denials ring hollow. Trump has championed several of the project’s proposals and nominated its key architects, including Vought, to his potential Cabinet. His repeated denials are a transparent attempt to deflect criticism while embracing the very policies he claims to disavow. Vought and the OMB will play a central role in that embrace.
Project 2025 designates the OMB as the epicenter of Trump’s plan to consolidate power in the executive branch, stripping the professional, nonpartisan civil service of independence and subordinating it to a president’s whims.
Under the guise of “reining in the bureaucracy,” Vought’s plans include recategorizing civil servants to allow mass firings, circumventing Senate confirmation for key appointments, and boosting the president’s authority over agencies such as the Department of Justice. These measures are not about returning power to the people but about handing unchecked authority to one individual: Donald Trump.
Vought’s advocacy for eliminating independent agencies and consolidating presidential control goes far beyond traditional partisan governance. His proposals would systematically dismantle safeguards that prevent abuse of power, effectively erasing oversight and accountability while eroding the separation of powers that has defined American democracy.
This extreme approach aligns disturbingly well with Trump’s well-documented ambitions to govern with authoritarian control. Trump has openly declared his desire to wield near-dictatorial power, and Project 2025 provides the road map to achieve it. That Vought has spent years preparing this blueprint should alarm even the most conservative senators.
The chilling implications of Vought’s nomination extend beyond bureaucratic reshuffling. Project 2025 includes provisions to criminalize mailing abortion pills, outlaw pornography and abolish the Department of Education — issues that reflect not public consensus but a narrow and extreme ideological agenda. Under Vought’s leadership, the OMB would facilitate the implementation of these extreme policies, weaponizing budgetary decisions to coerce compliance across federal agencies without the approval of the voters or their elected representatives in Congress.
Trump’s team, and especially Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have openly talked about once again using “impoundment” to weaponize government spending and force people to Trump’s will.
A controversial tool that has not been widely used since 1974 when Congress passed a law narrowing its use, impoundment is a way the president may withhold congressionally approved funds at the administration’s whim. In modern times, the list of presidents who have used impoundment to control others is interesting: Richard Nixon (whose abuse of it prompted Congress to limit it), Ronald Reagan and Trump in his first term. Almost always, they used it not as a means of controlling irrational spending, as it was originally intended, but to try to force social changes on the public, punish critics and reward friends. It was, and is, a tool of corruption.
After Nixon’s abuses, Congress passed a law requiring presidents to appeal to Congress in order to impound funds. Reagan appealed a number of times and was generally ignored. Trump tried in his first term too, and again Congress ignored him. The current MAGA-fied Congress, though, is a wild card and if it grants Trump broad power to use impoundment, essentially all government spending will be hostage to the president’s will, just as Project 2025 intends. Separation of powers will be upended.
The Senate has a constitutional duty to carefully vet nominees, particularly for positions as consequential as the OMB director. Vought’s nomination should unite senators across party lines in opposition.
Even conservative senators, who might find aspects of Project 2025 ideologically appealing, should reject Vought. After all, much of the power Vought is seeking to centralize within the White House is currently held by Congress. Approving Vought’s appointment would be an act of lawmakers willingly surrendering their power and constitutional authority to whomever the current occupant of the Oval Office might be, leaving the nation vulnerable to the excesses of any future administration, Republican or Democrat. Limiting executive branch power is not a matter of partisan advantage but of preserving the constitutional order.
If Vought is confirmed, the consequences will be far-reaching. The OMB’s role in shaping federal budgets and implementing policies means it wields tremendous influence over every aspect of government. Placing this power in the hands of someone so dedicated to dismantling institutional checks and balances would be a catastrophic mistake.
The Senate must reject Vought’s nomination. His confirmation would embolden efforts to erode the foundations of American democracy, replacing accountability and deliberation with authoritarian control. At a time when the nation faces deep political divisions, it is more important than ever to uphold the principles that bind us together. Senators must act decisively to protect those principles and ensure that the Office of Management and Budget serves the public interest, not the ambitions of one man.