Russell Vought
Russ Vought joined the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) when President Trump took office. Vought first served as Acting Director then as Director of OMB for nearly two years. He was a member of the President’s Cabinet and was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the President’s policy, management, and deregulatory agendas across the Executive Branch.
During the Trump ...
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Russell's episode appearances
Episode 180: “America’s Open Borders” with Ken Cuccinelli and Russ Vought
“No borders. No walls. No USA at all.” Chant by Antifa rioters marching in the streets of Denver. With Ukraine and Russia dominating the headlines, America seems to have lost focus on the border – and the war – that really counts.It’s not Ukraine, it’s America’s southern border with Mexico. The Biden Administration seems simply to have “opened it up.”Completely. And what’s happening is an ongoing catastrophe that’s fueling illegal immigration, human trafficking and drug smuggling. People from over 100 countries around the world have crossed the border illegally in the last year.We need to focus on this war on our own border here, at home – a strange war where it seems our adversary is our own federal government. What the Biden administration is doing is not incompetence at protecting our border, it’s a deliberate policy to open it up.But we don’t have to wait for a change in the Administration. “A plain reading of the Constitution gives border state governors war powers under Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 to interdict and remove illegal aliens to […]
Episode 149: “Why America Must Remain the World’s Preeminent Seapower” with Russ Vought and Arthur Herman
After decades of cuts to shipbuilding and maintenance, the United States Navy has been stripped down to a fleet barely larger than it was 100 years ago, in 1916. Meanwhile, China has dramatically increased its spending on its Navy, as well as on its Air Force, cyberspace and electronic warfare capabilities. Alarmingly, Beijing is building islands in the South China Sea, threatening trade routes and menacing allies. President Trump made it a priority to expand the American “blue water” fleet to 355 battle-force ships. His plan would have increased shipbuilding by only $6.7 billion and would have launched us on a trajectory to protect America’s maritime supremacy. Shortly after taking office, Joe Biden slashed this from his budget. With me to explore this and many other national defense concerns – in a fascinating, wide-ranging and strategic conversation – is Russ Vought, the founder of The Center for Renewing America and the Trump Administration’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget and Arthur Herman, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute focusing on defense, energy and technology issues and author of […]
about Russell
Russ Vought joined the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) when President Trump took office. Vought first served as Acting Director then as Director of OMB for nearly two years. He was a member of the President’s Cabinet and was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the President’s policy, management, and deregulatory agendas across the Executive Branch.
During the Trump Administration, OMB was a key office in pushing for conservative victories and helping President Trump cut through bureaucracy. During his four years at OMB, Russ was one of Trump’s most trusted and competent managers called by The Economist, the President’s Toolkit.
Prior to serving in the Trump Administration, Russ spent more than 20 years working in Washington, D.C. with grassroots and public policy organizations. He worked for seven years as Vice President of Heritage Action for America. Prior to this, he worked on Capitol Hill, serving as the Policy Director for the House Republican Conference, under then-Chairman Mike Pence, and as the Executive Director of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), and as a legislative assistance for U.S. Senator Phil Gramm.
Russ graduated from Wheaton College in 1998, and from George Washington University Law School in 2004. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two daughters.