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WASHINGTON – Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today questioned President Trump’s nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Russell Vought. Vought previously served as the Director of OMB, which has expansive jurisdiction over the performance of federal agencies and administers the federal budget, during President Trump’s first term. He has repeatedly attempted to weaken protections for federal workers and disrupt agencies by shifting their operations across the country.

Reflecting on Russ Vought’s previous experience and statements, Sen. Warner summarized:

“I looked at what you said from just the management standpoint, and it seems like what you want to do is… how many federal workers can you get to quit? How many federal work offices can you get to relocate? And I got to tell ya… your words, ‘We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected because they are increasingly viewed as villains. We want to put them in trauma.’ I got to tell you, you want to be OMB Director and help oversee this workforce… and you want to put the workforce in trauma? Sir, that would be management malpractice.

“Let's look at your record… You helped move the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) out… [as a result,] 170% increase in vacancies at the BLM. GAO, the folks that are supposed to be independent, said that move dramatically impaired its ability to serve the American people. Another failure, that some of us pointed out… you said… ‘Let's move part of the Department of Agriculture out, two bureaus…’ that led to 40% and 60% reductions in effectiveness.”

Vought is an architect of Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for President Trump’s second term that details an expansive vision to slash and relocate key portions of the federal workforce. On Project 2025’s proposal to break up the Intelligence Community:

“So in your Project 2025, you put forward the idea that somehow breaking up the CIA and moving it around the country would make our nation more safe. Do you not understand, sir, that President Trump, by having the intelligence community close to him, has the ability to have from folks from NSA, CIA, Pentagon, FBI in this region?

“Your idea of let's somehow… break up the intelligence community's effectiveness… I would ask you, sir, can you show any evidence that somehow how we would make our nation safer if you put your political litmus test and this idea of bringing ‘trauma’ to the federal workforce by taking the intelligence community, which has been supported on a bipartisan basis year in and year out, and somehow breaking it up and spreading it hither and yon just for a political purpose. How does that make our nation safer?”

In closing, Sen. Warner said:

“I hope my colleagues will raise your completely irresponsible actions on Schedule F… But I urge you, sir, if you become in this position, think long and hard about the men and women of the national security and the intelligence community before you go… trying to score points by simply trying to break up an operation that actually functions better because of their close collaboration. And your comments about the federal workforce I find disqualifying.”

The Budget Committee will vote on Vought’s nomination in the coming weeks.

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