Co-author of Republicans' Project 2025 road map now holds key post to implement shutdown cuts
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought has said he will be "looking for opportunities" to scale down the government. Credit: The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — As the Trump administration weighs which federal programs and agencies continue to operate during the government shutdown, decisions rest largely with budget director Russell Vought, a longtime aide President Donald Trump has likened to the grim reaper.
Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, is an avid proponent of drastically reducing the size of the federal workforce and has moved quickly over the past three days to pause federal funding for projects in Democrat-led states, while continuing to raise the prospect of widespread layoffs.
"There are all manner of authorities to be able to keep this administration's policy agenda moving forward, and that includes reducing the size and scope of the government, and we will be looking for opportunities to do that," Vought told Fox Business in an interview Tuesday just before the shutdown.
While most OMB directors are policy wonks working behind the scenes, Vought, who held the post during Trump’s first term and was a co-author of the controversial Project 2025 book of conservative policy proposals, has become a more visible public figure. He has been celebrated on social media by Trump’s base of supporters and widely criticized by Democrats for his push to downsize the federal government.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- As the Trump administration weighs which federal programs and agencies continue to operate during the government shutdown, decisions rest largely with budget director Russell Vought.
- Vought is an avid proponent of drastically reducing the size of the federal workforce and has moved quickly to pause federal funding for projects in Democrat-led states.
- Vought, who held the same post during Trump’s first term and was a co-author of the Project 2025 book of conservative policy proposals, has been celebrated on social media by Trump’s supporters and widely criticized by Democrats.
"The sort of working-behind-the-curtain reputation that he used to have has kind of been slowly dissolving," said Nick Beauchamp, an associate professor of political science at Northeastern University.
In Project 2025, a book that has become a road map for Trump’s second term, Vought argued the president "should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government" and compared the role of OMB to an air-traffic control system with the ability to "ground planes that are flying off course."
Seeking broad power
Vought has previously said the president should have the authority to fire federal workers not loyal to his agenda. During his confirmation hearings in January, he argued the president should have broader powers to suspend funding previously appropriated by Congress, despite a Nixon-era law preventing the executive branch from doing so.
Days before the shutdown, Vought sent a memo to agency heads encouraging them to "use this opportunity to consider" preparing federal layoff notices known as Reduction in Force, or RIF, notices.
Trump on social media announced he was meeting with Vought on Thursday to discuss which cuts to implement as congressional leaders remained at an impasse over funding a short-term spending bill.
Congressional Democrats are pushing Trump and congressional Republicans to agree to a set of concessions — including the extension of pandemic-era health care subsidies set to expire in January — in exchange for their support of a temporary spending bill to reopen the government. But Republicans argue that debate on those health care demands can continue separately once a funding bill is passed.
Cutting projects
As the stalemate continues, Vought on social media has announced massive cuts to infrastructure and clean energy programs in Democrat-led states and cities, including $18 billion in funding for two major New York railway projects.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has warned that should a shutdown persist, layoffs could be in the "thousands." But at a press briefing Friday she declined to provide a timeline for when Vought would announce any workforce reductions.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) have decried Vought’s actions, accusing him of cutting job-creating programs.
"Obstructing these projects is stupid and counterproductive because they create tens of thousands of great jobs and are essential for a strong regional and national economy," Schumer said Wednesday on X.
'This is the risk'
Senate Republican leaders have also acknowledged a shutdown with Vought at the helm of OMB will likely result in deep cuts.
"This is the risk of shutting down the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told Politico on Wednesday.
Vought "has been dreaming about this moment, preparing for this moment, since puberty," Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told Fox News this past week.
The president on Thursday posted an AI-generated music video depicting Vought as a scythe-wielding grim reaper, walking through the nation’s capital to the tune of the 1976 Blue Öyster Cult song “(Don't Fear) The Reaper."
"Russ Vought is the reaper," read the captioned lyrics of the video. "He wields the pen, the funds and the brain. Here comes the reaper."
Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.
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