Trump Expected to Name Vought to Lead Budget Office, CBS Says

(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Russ Vought to serve as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to CBS News, bringing back a trusted former aide to his second administration.

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Vought also served as Trump’s budget director during his first term.

While not the most high-profile of administration roles, the OMB director is particularly significant for coordinating and executing the president’s budget plans. Incoming presidential administrations typically begin their budget planning well before the new president is inaugurated.

With Trump set to enjoy Republican majorities in the House and Senate, he’ll meet limited substantive pushback on top policy priorities, which are likely to include deporting undocumented migrants, restructuring the government and overhauling the Affordable Care Act. OMB will maintain a critical role on foreign aid, disaster funding and other unscheduled or emergency spending requests.

The office is also responsible for assisting with presidential transitions by providing resources to help ensure incoming parties have what they need to build the foundation for their teams and to ensure a seamless transfer of power.

Vought was one of the lead authors of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 manifesto, a blueprint for a conservative takeover of the federal government that Trump sought to distance himself from during the presidential campaign.

In the document, Vought argued for a muscular presidency and called OMB the president’s “air-traffic control system” — and its director “the best, most comprehensive approximation of the president’s mind as it pertains to the policy agenda.”

Vought is the founder and president of the Center for Renewing America, which describes itself as “the tip of the America First spear” in Washington. It played a behind-the-scenes role in engineering former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster last year.

In addition to Vought, Mick Mulvaney also served as Trump’s OMB chief during the first term along with Mark Sandy, a career official, who was acting chief for less than a month.

(Updates with additional details throughout)

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