Russ Vought Nominated for Office of Management and Budget Director

Environmental Defense Fund strongly opposes President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Russ Vought to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget. 

“A president-elect who swore over and over he had nothing to do with Project 2025 seems to be using it as a who's who for his most important appointments. Donald Trump’s choice for budget director is a driving force behind this agenda that would make America weaker by undoing clean energy investments, surrendering jobs to other countries, and increasing pollution. 

“Russ Vought has made clear his contempt for the people working every day to ensure their fellow Americans have clean air, clean water, and a safer climate. This is not the leadership America needs.”

            - Amanda Leland, Executive Director, Environmental Defense Fund 

Vought’s Own Words, Plans 

Russ Vought made his plans clear, saying “When bureaucrats wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villain … We want to put them in trauma.”

Project 2025 is a 900-page deregulatory agenda, written by Trump’s allies including Vought, in preparation for his return to the White House. Its proposed tactics include:

1. Repealing clean energy investments and expanding the burning of dirty fossil fuels
2. Weakening essential protections for clean air and water and a safer climate
3. Defaulting on America’s commitment to the global climate agreement — again
4. Making it harder to keep harmful chemicals out of our food, homes and workplaces
5. Undermining government staff responsible for safeguarding health and environmental protections

As budget director in the first Trump administration, Vought sought to use one of Trump’s executive orders to strip away job protections for nonpartisan government workers.