Who Is Russell Vought, America’s ‘Threat to Democracy’?

The end of the republic. The rise of Voughtocracy.

What do President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk, and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought have in common? They are all ostensibly threats to democracy. The gatekeepers of the Swamp have clutched their pearls that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is finding waste, draining the sewage, and saving taxpayers some cash. The mainstream media has inserted “constitutional crisis” into the daily political lexicon, and certain members of Congress are in upheaval over the rise of “Muskocracy” and the administration’s “Voughtocratic” ways.

Russell Vought, ‘Architect’ of Project 2025

Russell Vought is the former OMB director during the first Trump administration. He penned one chapter of the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025, writing about how OMB economists have been activists advancing their personal agendas rather than championing the president’s policies. Vought is also the founder of the four-year-old Center for Renewing America, a think tank advocating conservative politics. But how did this one man, a little-known figure compared to the titans appearing before confirmation hearings, cause Democratic senators to boycott his committee advancement vote and throw tantrums during his Senate floor confirmation?

In his first appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, left-leaning lawmakers were perturbed over Vought’s view regarding the power of the purse. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), for example, was “aghast” when Vought declared the Impoundment Control Act unconstitutional. “The president ran on that view. That’s his view, and I agree,” he said in an exchange with Blumenthal, who accused the top budget chief of taking the law into his hands.

This 1974 legislation, which erected safeguards preventing presidents from freezing funding appropriated by Congress, was essentially the beginning of the Democratic Party’s crusade against Vought and the broader DOGE initiative. Scores of lawmakers, from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, repeatedly slammed Vought. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) defended Vought by stating that both parties have allowed the executive branch to supersede Congress too many times without any pushback.

Vought’s defense? The federal funding freeze in the Trump administration’s opening days allowed agencies and departments to ensure their programs complied with the president’s agenda. This did not satisfy his opponents’ rebuke.

First, they pushed the Republican-controlled Budget Committee to delay a vote to force Vought to appear for another hearing. When their demands were not met, they boycotted the committee’s procedural vote, calling it a “sham process.” While the vote was ongoing, a chorus of Senate Democrats held a press conference, telling reporters that Vought “is dangerously unfit” to lead the OMB and is “a threat to democracy.” Sens. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and Alexa Padilla (D-CA) accused GOP senators of leaving the American people “out of the room” and “were hiding something.” In what might have been music to the ears of the folks at CNN and The New York Times, Merkley uttered the magic words: “We have a constitutional crisis.”

As the upper chamber was gearing up for a vote to officially confirm Russell Vought, Democratic senators pulled an all-nighter and delivered speeches complaining about the president’s top budget pick. “His confirmation would be a disaster for working families, and a godsend to billionaires who don’t pay their fair share in taxes,” Schumer said. Eventually, the Senate voted 53-47, making Vought the official OMB chief.

Adding to the Fire

Russell Vought poured kerosene on his opponents’ fire of loathing when he announced the suspension of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding. The so-called top cop on Main Street, Vought said on social media platform X on Feb. 8 that the organization already maintains more than $700 million in the bank and additional funding is not “reasonably necessary” to execute its functions. “This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off,” he said.

The CFPB was created in the wake of the global financial crisis, designed to protect consumers from what regulators described as predatory financial services practices. It has been a target of reproach for overstepping its boundaries and metastasizing into a political entity. Today, the new administration could be overhauling the group overseeing banks, payment firms, and other financial institutions or potentially taking a chainsaw to its headquarters. In an email to staff, Vought encouraged the CFPB to halt all supervision activity and refrain from approving or issuing any proposed or final rules and guidance. This came after stories circulated that Musk’s DOGE aides entered CFPB offices and accessed its information technology systems.

Reports suggest that DOGE has the CFPB in its sights, and politicians are ringing alarm bells. “There are now zero cops overseeing the $18 trillion consumer lending market,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) during a Senate Banking Committee hearing featuring Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. “It’s like putting a sign on every checking account, every credit card, every mortgage application, and every car loan: Cops have been fired. Let the scams begin.”

Vought for Turbulence

A chorus of House Republicans introduced legislation that would repeal the Richard Nixon-era Impoundment Control Act. The bill has the support of nearly two dozen GOP co-sponsors, and sister legislation is being advanced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) in the upper chamber. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who is leading the charge, is making the same case as Russell Vought. “Since the Empowered Control Act of ‘74, we have seen a tremendous increase in spending. And I think that’s part of the problem right there. The president is required now by law to spend the exact amount that Congress authorizes or appropriates for a specific program,” Clyde said in an interview with Fox News Digital. Be it political fights or legal challenges, Vought might have voted himself into some trouble with a rowdy bunch.