The Administration · Cabinet-level officials
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
The White House budget chief and a principal author of Project 2025, who has used the office to freeze or cancel money Congress approved, shrink the federal workforce and, for 18 months, run down the consumer finance watchdog.
Russell Vought, born in 1976, grew up in Trumbull, Connecticut, the son of an electrician who had served in the Marines and a schoolteacher. 3 10 He attended Wheaton College in Illinois and later earned a law degree at George Washington University. 3 10 He started in the mailroom of Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas in 1999, then worked for House Republicans, including Mike Pence, and in 2010 helped start Heritage Action, a group that pushed Republican lawmakers toward harder conservative positions. 3
He joined the Office of Management and Budget after the 2016 election, became acting director in 2019 and was confirmed as director in July 2020. 3 1 In that term he shifted Defense Department money to the border wall and froze about $214 million in security aid to Ukraine, the act at the center of Trump's first impeachment. 3 He also designed Schedule F, a plan to strip job protections from many career officials. 1 6
Out of office he founded the Center for Renewing America, wrote a chapter of Project 2025 and ran its transition planning. 3 The Senate confirmed his return as budget director 53-47 on February 6, 2025; he had declined at his hearing to promise he would obey the 1974 law that bars presidents from withholding money Congress has appropriated. 1 2 The next day he was also made acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and he later oversaw the closing of the foreign aid agency USAID. 3 10
ProPublica reported that his office guided much of the cost-cutting campaign known as DOGE. 3 In 2025 he won a $9 billion cut from Congress, cancelled nearly $5 billion more in foreign aid without a vote, and during the autumn shutdown paused or cancelled $26 billion for projects in states led by Democrats while more than 4,000 workers were laid off. 3 House Democrats put the total frozen or cancelled at more than $410 billion. 3
He gave up the consumer bureau role on August 1, 2026, and remains budget director. 11 9 A Maryland man was charged in January 2026 with attempted murder after allegedly going to his home; Vought now has a Marshals Service security detail. 5 6
The acts and events that have defined the post so far, oldest first.
The consumer bureau began laying off about 1,500 employees, almost 90 percent of its staff, after an appeals court partly lifted a judge's order. 4
Congress approved the administration's request to take back about $9 billion from foreign aid and public broadcasting. 3
Police in Arlington, Virginia, arrested a man later charged with attempted murder for allegedly going to Vought's home in August 2025. 5
His acting leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ended; Mark Paoletta became acting director. 11
What critics, courts or investigators have said, and the answer given. An allegation is not a finding.
At his confirmation hearing Vought would not rule out withholding money in defiance of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, drawing criticism from senators of both parties; Sen. Tim Kaine also objected to his earlier remark that career officials should be put in trauma. 1 6
Their side: Vought said he would follow the president's direction and noted that Trump considers the spending restrictions unconstitutional; he called Schedule F sound policy. 1
Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Appropriations Committee, called the pocket rescission a clear violation of the law. The Government Accountability Office opened 39 investigations into possible illegal withholding and found some actions unlawful, including the holding back of medical research grants. 3
Their side: Vought has said the Government Accountability Office should not exist. He declined to be interviewed by ProPublica, and his office did not comment on the record. 3
Judge Amy Berman Jackson barred the administration from enforcing Vought's stop-work order at the consumer bureau or laying off staff for reasons other than performance; an appeals court later allowed dismissals of employees judged unnecessary to the bureau's legal duties. 4
Their side: The bureau's chief legal officer wrote that it would shift away from enforcement and supervision that states can do. 4
Energy grants worth more than $7.5 billion were cancelled almost entirely in states that voted against Trump, after what E&E News described as a promise by Vought; the Energy Department's lawyers told a court in July 2026 that the choice was based solely on the political identity of the states. 7 8
Their side: Vought dismissed the cancelled money in a social media post as part of what he called a green scam. The White House referred later questions to the Justice and Energy departments. 7
Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's immigration crackdown, took over as White House chief of staff Monday. Trump says he will lean on executive power and vetoes once Democrats control Congress in January.
For at least 14 years, FEMA's daily briefing listed every pending request for federal disaster aid. The list was dropped right after a report that President Trump fast-tracked Florida's hurricane aid before the midterms, so it is now harder to see who is left waiting.
A Democrat and a Republican have asked every House member to promise to seat the winners states certify after Nov. 3. So far only a few Republicans have signed, while Democrats are planning for an attempt to block their members when the new Congress opens.
File checked Nov. 13, 2026. Something wrong or out of date? Tell the desk.
