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Russell Vought

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Russell Vought
Official portrait, 2018
42nd Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office
January 2, 2019 – January 20, 2021
Acting: January 2, 2019 – July 22, 2020[a]
PresidentDonald Trump
DeputyDerek Kan
Preceded byMick Mulvaney
Succeeded byShalanda Young
Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office
March 14, 2018 – July 22, 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byBrian Deese
Succeeded byDerek Kan
Personal details
Born
Russell Thurlow Vought

(1976-03-26) March 26, 1976 (age 48)
Political partyRepublican
Children2
EducationWheaton College (BA)
George Washington University (JD)

Russell Thurlow Vought (born March 26, 1976), or Russ Vought is an American former government official who was the director of the Office of Management and Budget from July 2020 to January 2021. He was previously deputy director of the OMB for part of 2018, and acting director from 2019 to 2020.

After Joe Biden was elected president, Biden and his transition team accused Vought of hindering the incoming administration's transition by refusing to allow incoming Biden officials to meet with OMB staff. Vought denied the accusations.[1][2]

In 2021, Vought founded the organization the Center for Renewing America, which is focused on combating critical race theory.[3] He is involved with Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-led plan that seeks to reshape the federal government.[4] Vought was named policy director of the Republican National Committee platform committee in May 2024.[5]

Vought identifies as a Christian nationalist who seeks to infuse the government and society with elements of Christianity while having "a commitment to an institutional separation between church and state, but not the separation of Christianity from its influence on government and society," according to The Washington Post.[6]

Early life

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Vought was born to Thurlow Bunyea Vought, an US marine veteran and Margaret Flowers Vought, an elementary school teacher.[7][8] He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College and his Juris Doctor from the George Washington University Law School.

Career

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Vought worked for Heritage Action, the lobbying arm of The Heritage Foundation.[9][10] He was the executive director and budget director of the Republican Study Committee, the policy director for the Republican Conference of the United States House of Representatives, and a legislative assistant for U.S. Senator Phil Gramm.[11][12]

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

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Trump–Ukraine scandal
A request by U.S. President Donald Trump (right) to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) to investigate Joe Biden and his son sparked the scandal.
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Deputy OMB Director

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In April 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Vought to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). He was confirmed by the Senate on February 28, 2018, in a 50–49 vote. Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote.[13]

During the confirmation hearings for Vought's nomination to the OMB, Senator Bernie Sanders questioned Vought about a statement that "Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned."[14][15] The Atlantic magazine and various Christian organizations denounced Sanders's questioning as a violation of the No Religious Test Clause.[15][16]

In 2019, Vought was one of nine government officials who defied a subpoena to testify before Congress in relation to the Trump–Ukraine scandal and the administration's decision to freeze military aid to Ukraine. The decision to freeze aid to Ukraine had led Democrats to launch the first impeachment of Donald Trump.[17][18]

OMB director

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Vought being sworn in as OMB Director in July 2020

On January 2, 2019, when OMB Director Mick Mulvaney became acting White House chief of staff, Vought became the acting OMB director, though Mulvaney continued to hold the director position.[19][20] On March 18, 2020, Trump announced his intent to nominate him to be OMB Director.[21] Vought was confirmed by the Senate on July 20, 2020, by a vote of 51–45;[22] and was sworn in two days later.[23]

In May 2020, Vought broke the OMB's long-standing practice of publishing updated economic forecasts,[18] citing disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.[18]

On September 4, 2020, Vought, at Trump's direction, published an OMB memo instructing federal agencies to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on "critical race theory" or "white privilege" and to identify all available avenues within the law to cancel any such contracts and/or to divert federal dollars away from these training sessions.[24][25]

2020 election

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After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, he and his transition team accused Vought of hindering the presidential transition by refusing to allow incoming Biden officials to meet with OMB staff. Typically, career OMB staff would provide an incoming administration with cost estimates and details on existing programs.[2]

Vought defended his actions, stating that OMB had provided funding for the transition and that there had been more than 45 meetings with Biden officials but that "OMB staff are working on this Administration's policies and will do so until this Administration's final day in office."[26]

Political and religious positions

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Vought graduated from the evangelical Christian Wheaton College and describes himself as a Christian nationalist. He seeks to infuse the government and society with elements of Christianity, saying he has "a commitment to an institutional separation between church and state, but not the separation of Christianity from its influence on government and society." He advocates for what he calls "radical constitutionalism" to reverse a current "post-Constitutional time" which he asserts has been the result of decades of corruption of laws and institutions by the political left. He characterizes the federal bureaucracy as "woke and weaponized" and advocates replacing it with "radical constitutionalists" to correct these extremes. Vought recommends a sweeping expansion of presidential power should Donald Trump return to office, to include deploying the military for domestic law enforcement, and reviving the ability of the president to withhold congressionally-appropriated funds, a practice Congress banned in 1974. Vought proposes to "gut the FBI" and end the tradition of political independence of the U.S. Justice Department.[27][28]

Center for Renewing America

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In January 2021, Vought started an organization called the Center for Renewing America and an affiliated issue advocacy group called American Restoration Action. According to Axios, the groups "will provide the ideological ammunition to sustain Trump's political movement after his departure from the White House."[29]

In April 2021, The Washington Post fact-checker rated Vought's statement that only 5 to 7 percent of the Biden administration's $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan would go to "actual roads and bridges and ports and things that you and I would say is real infrastructure" as "Three Pinocchios" out of four.[30]

On June 8, 2021, Citizens for Renewing America (CRA), the advocacy arm of Center for American Restoration, released a guide to "combatting critical race theory."[31] Vought told Fox News the 33-page handbook is "a crash course in CRT, a 'one-stop shopping' for parents trying to hold their school board members accountable."[32]

On June 22, 2022, Vought confirmed that federal agents conducted a search of the home of his organization's director of litigation, Jeffrey Clark, a former U.S. Department of Justice official who participated in efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.[33]

In February 2023, CRA published a paper arguing for a "dormant NATO, wherein Europe is the primary security provider of the European front."[34]

CRA is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025,[35] a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican nominee win the 2024 presidential election.[36]

Project 2025

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Main article: Project 2025

Vought plays a major role in Project 2025, a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican Party candidate win the 2024 presidential election.[37][38] It proposes reclassifying tens of thousands of merit-based federal civil service workers as political appointees in order to replace them with loyalists more willing to enable the next Republican president's policies.[38][39] It seeks to infuse the government and society with Christian values.[40][41][42]

In October 2024, ProPublica reported that Vought's proposals include plans to reshape government by using military force against protesters if deemed necessary, defunding agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce federal influence, and casting civil servants as obstructive to conservative agendas.[43] His CRA aims to enact an aggressive policy approach, cutting bureaucracy and focusing on Trump-aligned, conservative governance.[43]

Notes

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  1. ^ Vought was Acting Director from January 2, 2019, to March 31, 2020, during Mulvaney's term as Acting White House Chief of Staff; Vought continued in that position until being sworn in on July 22, 2020.

References

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  1. ^ Breuninger, Kevin (December 31, 2020). "Trump budget chief refuses to direct staff to help with Biden spending plans". CNBC. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Cook, Nancy (December 31, 2020). "Trump Budget Chief Hampers Biden Transition With Ban on Meetings". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  3. ^ "Republicans, spurred by an unlikely figure, see political promise in critical race theory". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  4. ^ Mascaro, Lisa (August 29, 2023). "Conservatives are on a mission to dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump's vision". Associated Press News.
  5. ^ Dixon, Matt (May 23, 2024). "Trump team moves behind the scenes to shift the GOP platform on abortion and marriage". NBC News.
  6. ^ Reinhard, Beth (June 8, 2024). "Trump loyalist pushes 'post-Constitutional' vision for second term". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ "THURLOW VOUGHT Obituary (2000) - Westchester, NY - The Journal News". Legacy.com. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  8. ^ "Margaret Vought - 2010 - McHoul Funeral Home, Inc". www.tributearchive.com. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  9. ^ Kiernan, Paul (July 20, 2020). "Senate Confirms Russell Vought as Head of White House Budget Office". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  10. ^ Edwards, Jane (April 10, 2017). "Russell Vought to Be Nominated OMB Deputy Chief". ExecutiveGov. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  11. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration Posts". The White House. April 7, 2017. Archived from the original on April 8, 2017. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  12. ^ Graff, Garrett (August 13, 2008). "The Insider: Russell Vought". Washingtonian. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  13. ^ Mejdrich, Kellie (February 28, 2018). "Mike Pence Breaks Another Tie Senate Vote". Roll Call. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  14. ^ "Wheaton College and the Preservation of Theological Clarity". The Resurgent. January 17, 2016. Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  15. ^ a b Domonoske, Camila (June 9, 2017). "Is It Hateful To Believe In Hell? Bernie Sanders' Questions Prompt Backlash". NPR. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  16. ^ Green, Emma (June 8, 2017). "Bernie Sanders's Religious Test for Christians in Public Office". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  17. ^ Emma, Caitlin (July 20, 2020). "Senate confirms Russ Vought to be White House budget chief". Politico. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  18. ^ a b c Kiernan, Paul (July 20, 2020). "Senate Confirms Russell Vought as Head of White House Budget Office". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  19. ^ Wilhelm, Colin (December 14, 2018). "Former Heritage Action executive Russell Vought to act as Trump administration budget chief". Washington Examiner. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  20. ^ Lemire, Jonathan; Colvin, Jill; Lucey, Catherine (December 15, 2018). "Budget Head Mulvaney Picked as Trump's Acting Chief of Staff". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  21. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved March 18, 2020 – via National Archives.
  22. ^ Kiernan, Paul (July 20, 2020). "Senate Confirms Russell Vought as Head of White House Budget Office". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  23. ^ Vought, Russell [@RussVought45] (July 23, 2020). "Being sworn in as OMB Director by @realDonaldTrump & @VP was a moment I'll never forget. It's the honor of a lifetime to serve this great country & the American people under their leadership. I also want to thank my family for being at my side & their unwavering love & support" (Tweet). Archived from the original on July 24, 2020 – via Twitter.
  24. ^ "M-20-34 Training in the Federal Government (September 4, 2020)" (PDF). Retrieved June 18, 2021 – via National Archives.
  25. ^ Dawsey, Josh; Stein, Jeff (September 4, 2020). "White House directs federal agencies to cancel race-related training sessions it calls 'un-American propaganda'". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  26. ^ Liptak, Kevin (December 31, 2020). "Trump budget director accuses Biden team of 'false statements' in latest transition spat". CNN. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  27. ^ Reinhard, Beth (June 8, 2024). "Trump loyalist pushes 'post-Constitutional' vision for second term". The Washington Post.
  28. ^ Ward, Alexander; Przybyla, Heidi (February 20, 2024). "Trump Allies Prepare to Infuse 'Christian Nationalism' in Second Administration". Politico. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  29. ^ Nichols, Hans; Markay, Lachlan (January 26, 2021). "Scoop: Former OMB director to set up Pro-Trump think tanks". Axios. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  30. ^ Rizzo, Salvador. "Analysis | The GOP claim that only 5 to 7 percent of Biden's plan is for 'real infrastructure'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  31. ^ "Combatting Critical Race Theory in Your Community: An A to Z Guide On How To Stop Critical Race Theory And Reclaim Your Local School Board". Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  32. ^ Leach, Matt (June 8, 2021). "Conservative think tank creates 'A to Z guide' for stopping critical race theory in schools". Fox News. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  33. ^ "Home of Jeffrey Clark, Trump DOJ official, searched by federal agents". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  34. ^ Sumantra Maitra (February 16, 2023). "Pivoting the US Away from Europe to a Dormant NATO". The Center for Renewing America. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  35. ^ "Advisory Board". The Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on November 19, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  36. ^ Mascaro, Lisa (August 29, 2023). "Conservative Groups Draw Up Plan to Dismantle the US Government and Replace It with Trump's Vision". Associated Press News. Archived from the original on September 22, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  37. ^ Haberman, Maggie; Savage, Charlie; Swan, Jonathan (July 17, 2023). "Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 13, 2023. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  38. ^ a b Mascaro, Lisa (August 29, 2023). "Conservative Groups Draw Up Plan to Dismantle the US Government and Replace It with Trump's Vision". Associated Press News. Archived from the original on September 22, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  39. ^ Gomez Licon, Adrianna (July 6, 2024). "Biden assails Project 2025, a plan to transform government, and Trump's claim to be unaware of it". Associated Press.
  40. ^ Ward, Alexander; Przybyla, Heidi (February 20, 2024). "Trump Allies Prepare to Infuse 'Christian Nationalism' in Second Administration". Politico. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  41. ^ Swenson, Ali (July 3, 2024). "A conservative leading the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution". Associated Press.
  42. ^ "Project 2025 Co-Author Caught Admitting the Secret Conservative Plan to Ban Porn". The Intercept.
  43. ^ a b Redden, Molly; Kroll, Andy; Surgey, Nick (October 28, 2024). ""Put Them in Trauma": Inside a Key MAGA Leader's Plans for a New Trump Agenda". ProPublica. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
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Political offices
Preceded by Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget
2018–2020 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Director of the Office of Management and Budget
2019–2021
Acting: 2019–2020 		Succeeded by
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