Senate Democrats are incensed about President Donald Trump’s unexpected freeze on federal aid, and many want to block the confirmation of his pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget in response.
But with Republicans largely in lockstep with Trump and shrugging off his move, Russell Vought’s confirmation is chugging along.
The Senate Budget Committee is slated to vote on Vought’s nomination on Thursday. Democrats urged Chairman Lindsey Graham to delay in response to the funding freeze, which a federal judge later blocked temporarily.
“We do not have the power to force the chair, but I hope that the chairman of the Budget Committee, realizing how this attack on the foundations of our Constitution is unacceptable, will join us in standing together,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, the committee’s ranking member.
The answer was no: “We’re going to go ahead” on Thursday, Graham told reporters.
The dynamic highlights just how powerless Senate Democrats are to stop Trump’s nominees — to the degree they even try. They united against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and even got three Republicans on board, but he was still narrowly confirmed. Other nominees have gotten several Democratic votes, or even unanimous ones, in the case of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
And on Tuesday, the Senate easily approved transportation secretary pick Sean Duffy in a 77-22 vote, in spite of Democratic anger about the funding freeze. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said she had planned to support him but could not “after the chaos Pres. Trump has unleashed with his order to pause critical federal funding to Nevada.” More than half of her caucus supported him anyway.
Vought is more directly related to the funding cuts; as one of the lead contributors to Project 2025, he has been advocating for them for years and is already influential at OMB.
The White House suggested on Tuesday that he was involved with the agency’s decision-making.
“I also spoke with the incoming director of OMB this morning and he told me to tell all of you that the line to his office is open for other federal government agencies across the board and if they feel that programs are necessary and in line with the president’s agenda, then the Office of Management and Budget will review those policies,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at her first press briefing.
The directive follows Vought’s beliefs to a T. He has said that the federal government should leave Social Security and Medicare intact, which is exactly what the guidance did, but cut money from numerous other government agencies.
“Let’s go after the most wasteful, the most weaponized, the most woke, and then let’s get people back to work,” Vought told Sean Spicer in 2023, referring to programs like Medicaid, the Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, refugee resettlement programs, foreign aid, welfare programs and others.
During his confirmation hearing with the Senate Budget Committee, Vought told senators that the White House should “take a very close look at the agencies that are spending and wasting money, and I believe weaponized at times against the American people.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer singled out Vought as responsible for the funding cuts and freezes and urged Republicans to vote him down.
“They have a chance to stop this. Let’s see what they do,” Schumer said at a press conference.
Some Republican senators suggested they may reconsider whether to support Vought — but likely not enough to matter. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of the three Republicans to vote against Hegseth, told reporters that her office experienced a deluge of calls after the memo was made public.
“My constituents back home certainly have thoughts about it,” Murkowski said. “Wondering what it means, how long it’s gonna last.”
When asked if the freeze would make her reconsider Vought’s nomination, Murkowski deflected.
“I’m working through trying to understand what this all means,” she said.
A Murkowski defection wouldn’t necessarily be cause for alarm. What would be alarming for Vought, and GOP leadership, is the sound of other senators wavering.
And multiple lawmakers evaded the question when asked if the freeze would affect their vote for the OMB nominee.
Sen. Kevin Cramer told NOTUS that Republicans’ backing of Vought could be impacted, although “it depends on, I think, as we learn more about the strategy behind it, how long is the pause.”
“You know, I think most of us feel comfortable with an evaluation by a new administration early in the term, but it would depend on how long this goes, and when Russell’s vote is, I suppose,” he said. Cramer added he was not sure how long was too long, but that “I don’t think anybody’s in panic mode just yet.”
Similarly, Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman told NOTUS he didn’t have a full grasp of the situation.
“We’re trying to sort through all of it to really find out what exactly they’re trying to do,” Boozman said.
But for the most part, Republicans said Vought’s confirmation was safe.
“I’m voting for Russ Vought,” Sen. Mike Lee said. The memo “absolutely does not change anything.”
“If Trump wants him, I’m voting for him,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville said.
Sen. Josh Hawley, who told reporters the freeze was well within the executive office’s purview, told NOTUS he was still backing Vought and hoped no Republican would be swayed to vote against him, adding that “this is getting blown out of proportion.”
Sen. John Kennedy said his vote for Vought “will not” be impacted. He did acknowledge that while OMB’s actions seemed unorthodox, he welcomed them.
“I know this is not the Washington way,” Kennedy told reporters. “The Washington way is for us to ask ourselves, ‘Who needs to pay more in taxes?’ At some point, you have to stop asking, ‘Who needs to pay more in taxes,’ and start asking, ‘Well, what the hell happened to all the money?’”
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Oriana González is a reporter at NOTUS. Ben T.N. Mause and Shifra Dayak are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.