Latest news with #Vought
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Project 2025 Architect Denies Far-Right Master Plan Is Guiding Trump's Decisions
With President Donald Trump's radical rehaul of America well underway, right-wing policy engineer Russell Vought wants you to believe Project 2025 was never meant to be his roadmap. During Sunday's episode of 'State of the Union,' CNN moderator Dana Bash got an icy answer when she asked Vought if the overlap between Trump's agenda and the hyper-conservative political program meant that Project 2025 was coming to fruition. Though the president repeatedly distanced himself from Project 2025 during his campaign, second-term Trump achievements like eliminating DEI, banning transgender troops and sending the military to crack down on the southern border were all detailed in the far-right policy wishlist, which Vought served on the advisory board for. But Vought, who is now Trump's director of the Office of Management and Budget, shot down the idea that the Heritage Foundation-helmed initiative inspired any of the president's actions. Claiming Trump was 'very public' about his plans during his campaign, the political operative told Bash it is 'delusional' to think the president was not the sole architect of his executive strategy. 'I'm not suggesting that he's not in charge,' Bash countered. 'I'm just saying that now it's pretty clear that what he wants to do and what you planned are dovetailing.' Vought still refused to acknowledge the influence of Project 2025, which also laid out tactics for shuttering the Department of Education, banning abortion medication and imposing work requirements for Medicaid recipients in a 900-plus page blueprint titled 'Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.' 'I think the president was very clear with his agenda and he is going forward with that agenda and he has been at the helm and the originator of all of these ideas,' he told Bash. 'What's on the agenda is what the president has put on the agenda, most of which he ran on,' Vought continued. 'And you will continue to see the things that he's interested in doing and those people like me will be executing that vision.' Though Trump's policies seem to be in sync with what was outlined by Project 2025, he told voters during his campaign he had 'nothing to do' with the program. 'I haven't read it. I don't want to read it purposely. I'm not going to read it,' he claimed during his first and only debate with Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. Senate Confirms Project 2025 Architect As Trump's Budget Director Bradley Whitford Spots Exactly Why 'Handmaid's Tale' Is 'Terribly Relevant' In 2025 This GOP Bill, Straight Out Of Project 2025, Would Make Pornography A Federal Crime
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Vought pushes back against idea that ‘big, beautiful bill' will raise deficit
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought on Sunday pushed back against the idea that a sizable package of Republican priorities that recently made it through the House is going to raise the deficit. 'This bill doesn't increase the deficit or hurt the debt,' Vought told CNN's Dana Bash on 'State of the Union,' responding to earlier comments from tech billionaire Elon Musk. 'In fact, it lowers it by $1.4 trillion,' he added. In a recent 'CBS Sunday Morning' interview, Musk said that he 'was, like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit … and it undermines the work that the [Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)] team is doing.' The 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' passed the House late last month following a series of final negotiations and text changes that ultimately secured Republican support for the bill. 'This is a $1.4 trillion, over 10 years deficit reduction. It's $1.6 trillion in mandatory savings,' Vought said Sunday. 'Obviously, we have a little bit of spending in there as well for border and defense, but that is the biggest mandatory savings package that we have seen since the 1970s — 1997.' Musk also said in a recent CBS interview that he believed that 'a bill can be big, or it could be beautiful. 'I don't know if it could be both,' he added. 'My personal opinion.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Politico
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Politico
OMB director flatly denies megabill represents an attack on the social safety net
President Donald Trump's top budget officer is playing down concerns among Republican senators that the administration's sweeping megabill will add to the budget deficit and result in politically punishing Medicaid cuts. 'We continue to work with people in the Senate as to working them through the specifics of the bill, what it does and what it doesn't do,' Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday on 'State of the Union.' 'We'll continue to do that. And I think at the end of the day, the Senate will have a resounding vote in favor of a substantially similar bill. Trump's domestic policy package, which passed the House by a single vote in May, faces a rocky road in the Senate. One obstacle: Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, as well as Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), have all signaled discomfort in the face of potential cuts to Medicaid. Despite Trump's insistence in April that there would be no cuts to the critical health program, a Congressional Budget Office report last month estimated 10.3 million people would lose coverage if the Medicaid portions of the megabill see daylight. Vought, who previously served as one of the chief architects of the much-maligned Project 2025 initiative, flatly denied that the bill represented an attack on social safety net programs. 'I think they're totally ridiculous. This is astroturf. This bill will preserve and protect the programs, the social safety net, but it will make it much more common sense,' Vought told Bash. 'Look, one out of every $5 or $6 in Medicaid is improper. We have illegal immigrants on the program. We have able-bodied working adults that don't have a work requirement that they would have in TANF or even SNAP. And those are something that's very important to institute. That's what this bill does. No one will lose coverage as a result of this bill.' Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock represents the only state with a work requirement program for Medicaid eligibility. Less than 7,000 people were enrolled in the first 18 months of Georgia's Pathways to Coverage initiative, vastly fewer than the state's initial expectations. And the project has been beset by administrative costs. 'The data clearly shows that if you want to get people to work, the way to do that is to provide them just basic health care so that they don't get sick,' Warnock, a Democrat, told Kristen Welker on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' also on Sunday. 'And what they're trying to do now is take this terrible experiment in Georgia, force it on the whole nation. And what we will see as a result of that is a workforce that is sicker and poorer and an economy that's weaker.' Deficit hawks, including Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and Elon Musk, have also played up concerns about the bill's impact on the debt. 'I think that's the Titanic,' Johnson said in May. Johnson has said he has enough allies in the Senate to stop the process absent what he sees as adequate spending reductions. Musk told CBS he thinks the bill would increase the deficit and 'undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.' 'I love Elon, this bill doesn't increase the deficit or hurt the debt,' Vought told Bash on Sunday. 'In fact, it lowers it by $1.4 trillion.'
Axios
17 hours ago
- Business
- Axios
Budget head Vought floats impoundment to sidestep Congress on DOGE cuts
The White House is weighing options like impoundment to formalize DOGE 's spending cuts without going through Congress, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said Sunday. Why it maters: That would tee up a potential Supreme Court fight over the scope of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, which bars the president from cutting funding without congressional approval. Trump and allies have railed against the law, which was signed after former President Nixon impounded billions. Driving the news: Vought said on CNN's "State of the Union" that the administration "might" send all of DOGE's cuts to Congress for approval but is waiting to gauge how the $9.4 billion rescissions package the White House plans to send to lawmakers this week fares. "It's the first of many rescissions bills," he said. "Some we may not actually have to get ... Congress to pass the rescissions bills." Pressed by CNN's Dana Bash on why the White House would sidestep Congress, Vought continued, "We have executive tools; we have impoundment." Vought argued spending less than was appropriated by Congress was "totally appropriate" for 200 years but that reforms in the 1970s led to "massive waste, fraud and abuse." He argued that the Impoundment Control Act also allows for pocket rescissions, a practice of proposing rescissions near the end of the fiscal year to essentially run out the clock, which Vought has long championed. "It's a provision that has been rarely used, but it's there," he said. "And we intend to use all of these tools. We want Congress to pass it where it's necessary; we also have executive tools." Friction point: Asked if the administration's moves were intended tee up a Supreme Court battle over the 50-year-old law, Vought said, "We're certainly not taking impoundment off the table."
The Hill
17 hours ago
- Business
- The Hill
Vought pushes back against idea that ‘big, beautiful bill' will raise deficit
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought on Sunday pushed back against the idea that a sizable package of Republican priorities that recently made it through the House is going to raise the deficit. 'This bill doesn't increase the deficit or hurt the debt,' Vought told CNN's Dana Bash on 'State of the Union,' responding to earlier comments from tech billionaire Elon Musk. 'In fact, it lowers it by $1.4 trillion,' he added. In a recent 'CBS Sunday Morning' interview, Musk said that he 'was, like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit … and it undermines the work that the [Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)] team is doing.' The 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' passed the House late last month following a series of final negotiations and text changes that ultimately secured Republican support for the bill. 'This is a $1.4 trillion, over 10 years deficit reduction. It's $1.6 trillion in mandatory savings,' Vought said Sunday. 'Obviously, we have a little bit of spending in there as well for border and defense, but that is the biggest mandatory savings package that we have seen since the 1970s — 1997.' Musk also said in a recent CBS interview that he believed that 'a bill can be big, or it could be beautiful. 'I don't know if it could be both,' he added. 'My personal opinion.'
