We asked to postpone the committee vote on Russell Vought because of grave concerns about his background. We were DENIED. We asked to hold the committee vote on Russell Vought in public, before the American people. We were DENIED. So Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee are BOYCOTTING the committee vote on Vought’s nomination. We won’t participate in this secret, sham vote—being held out of sight of the public. No Vought! | Senator Jeff Merkley

It appears that Russell Vought — Trump’s budget hawk and one of the chief architects of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — is stepping in to become DOGE’s new power broker. With Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist, at the helm, the slash-and-burn effort against the federal government may be on the cusp of an even darker turn. Last year, Vought told undercover journalists with the Centre for Climate Reporting that he wants “to make sure that we can say we are a Christian nation.”