President Donald Trump’s senior budget officer is expected to take over operations at the Department of Government Efficiency once Elon Musk steps down.
Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, will soon take on much of DOGE’s workload, including working with Congress to recoup funds, reclassifying federal employees, and advancing his proposed 2025 budget, which would significantly reduce government funding, according to the Wall Street Journal.
He has already acted as Musk’s lower-profile partner and praised his department’s efforts to reduce federal regulations, noting that President Trump has pledged to eliminate ten regulations for every one imposed.
However, Democrats are sure to be outraged by the appointment because Vought was a key architect of Project 2025, a hardline conservative manifesto that they claim is a roadmap for Trump’s second term.
It advocated for significant cutbacks to Social Security and Medicare, as well as the elimination of the Department of Homeland Security. Many leftist voters condemned the manifesto in the run-up to the presidential election, despite Trump’s attempts to dissociate himself from the text.
Still, Trump picked Vought as his main fiscal officer, and he is likely to carry out Musk’s draconian cutbacks to the federal government, which have sparked demonstrations as entire agencies have been shut down.
