Senator Murray Statement on Trump’s Nomination of Russ Vought to Lead the Office of Management and Budget

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement in response to President-elect Donald Trump announcing his intention to nominate Russ Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

“Surprising no one, Donald Trump has selected a chief architect of Project 2025 to manage his budget and spending priorities. Russ Vought is a far-right ideologue who has tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to override the spending decisions of Congress, who has and will again fight to give Trump the ability to summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants, and who has made it his mission to gut programs that help working families. I will not support a budget director who has loudly declared his ambition to rip health care away from Americans, slash funding that helps families put food on the table, students get a quality education, and so much else, and who says ‘radical’ action is needed to expand the president’s power to do all that.

“Make no mistake: Russ Vought would push massive cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP that families depend on— blowing up the deficit in the process—just like he did in his first stint as Trump’s budget director. Russ Vought has made clear he will put everything on the chopping block, including programs people rely on and the checks and balances our democracy is founded on—I strongly oppose his nomination, and I will remind former Director Vought that Congress holds the power of the purse.”

Senator Murray is also a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Budget Committee—during her tenure as Budget Committee Chair, Murray brokered the Murray-Ryan budget deal, putting an end to years of budget crises and restoring economic certainty and credibility while protecting critical investments in working families. Murray has previously condemned Vought as unfit and unqualified to serve for violating the law by illegally withholding military aid to Ukraine.

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