Russell Vought

Russell Thurlow Vought (/voʊt/ VOHT; born March 26, 1976) is an American political advisor who has served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget since 2025. Vought has additionally served as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since February 2025. He served as the acting administrator of the United States Agency for International Development from August to November 2025. Vought served as the Office of Management and Budget's director from 2020 to 2021 and as its deputy director, as well as its acting director, from 2018 to 2020.

Vought graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in history and political science and later from the George Washington University Law School with a Juris Doctor in 2004. While attending Wheaton, he interned for several lawmakers, including Texas senator Phil Gramm, whose views on deficits influenced Vought. After graduating from George Washington University, Vought worked for the Republican Study Committee. In December 2008, Indiana representative Mike Pence, the chairman of the House Republican Conference, named Vought as the conference's policy director. Vought clashed with Republican leadership in the House of Representatives over government spending. He resigned following the passage of the Affordable Care Act in March 2010 to establish Heritage Action for America, an advocacy organization, with Michael Needham.

Following Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, Vought was offered a position as a senior advisor in the Office of Management and Budget. In April 2017, Trump named Vought as his nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was confirmed by the Senate in February 2018, with vice president Mike Pence casting a tie-breaking vote. Vought and Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, sought to significantly cut social programs and international aid. In December, Trump removed his White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, over Mulvaney's claim that Kelly was seeking to block Trump from declaring a national emergency at the Mexico–United States border. Vought became the acting director after Trump named Mulvaney as his chief of staff.

Vought's first tenure as the director of the Office of Management and Budget occurred amid the 2018–2019 federal government shutdown. He sought austere spending cuts; the Office of Management and Budget's budgets called for the largest cuts in modern U.S. history. Vought's decision to cut security aid to Ukraine faced scrutiny amid an impeachment inquiry into Trump over the Trump–Ukraine scandal. In March 2020, Trump ousted Mulvaney as his White House chief of staff and as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to succeed Mulvaney as director in June. He was confirmed by the Senate the following month.

After Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank. He was influential in the Republican Party's strategy on the 2023 federal budget and the debt-ceiling crisis that year. Vought was a vocal opponent of California representative Kevin McCarthy's tenure as speaker of the House of Representatives and sought his removal; in October 2023, a motion to vacate the chair passed, resulting in McCarthy's removal. Concurrently, Vought was involved in an effort to re-enact Schedule F appointments and fire many of the workers in the federal civil service. He led the transition project of Project 2025, a political initiative to institute right-wing policies within the federal government, and was a key figure in its work.

In November 2024, Trump named Vought as his director of the Office of Management and Budget. He appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs prior to Trump's inauguration. The Senate voted to confirmed Vought in February 2025. That month, he was named as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In August, Trump named Vought as the acting administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, a position he held until November.