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President Donald Trump’s budget guru wants to use a shutdown to slash the federal government in the same vein as Elon Musk’s now-quiet Department of Government Efficiency.
But even pro-DOGE Republicans are warning Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought to go slow.
“Russ is less politically in tune than the president,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., a member of the Senate DOGE Caucus. “We, as Republicans, have never had so much moral high ground on a government funding bill in our lives. … I just don’t see why we would squander it, which I think is the risk of being aggressive with executive power in this moment.”
Less than 24 hours into a government shutdown, some of the same political faultlines are reappearing in the GOP after billionaire Elon Musk launched the administration’s effort to streamline the federal government. This time, amid the added chaos of a shutdown with little end in sight, Republicans have to be mindful to not overplay their hand in the broader funding talks with their opponents.
Trump and conservative lawmakers warned Vought would run wild during a shutdown, and he wasted little time Wednesday, pausing $18 billion of infrastructure projects in New York — which happens to be the home state of Congress’ Democratic leaders — and $8 billion of clean energy projects across 16 mostly blue states.
He told House Republicans on a private call that federal workers would start getting laid off within a couple days, people familiar with the call said, even as multiple GOP lawmakers raised concerns over government employees in their districts.
“That is totally unacceptable,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Semafor of the delayed New York infrastructure projects, which include the Hudson Tunnel. “I’ve actually seen the damage that was done by the hurricane, and it is serious.”
Democrats are arguing Vought will slash the federal government whether there’s a shutdown or not. But Collins said the funding lapse “absolutely” gave Vought sway because he now has the ability to deem employees non-essential, then potentially lay them off: “No doubt about that.”
The Trump administration’s unilateral budget cuts are popular among conservatives but not all of the public: Some polls have found that a majority of Americans disapproved of Musk’s handling of DOGE. And Republicans were often left to defend the chaotic cuts.
Now Vought is giving Congress déjà vu.
“The administration and the agencies have no boundaries; that they are, in an illegitimate way, taking money that has been appropriated,” Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a Democrat who represents Brooklyn and Queens, told Semafor. “The fingerprints are everywhere — and they will continue whether Elon Musk is here or not.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told Semafor she expects New York Attorney General Letitia James to file lawsuits against the Trump administration over the New York projects, and unions representing federal workers have already sued OMB over its threats of layoffs.
In the meantime, it seems inevitable that Vought’s downsizing push puts a bipartisan agreement to reopen the government even further out of reach.
“We don’t have true negotiating partners; they just want to make this difficult. They’ve been cheering this on for months,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California said.
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The administration has “legitimate concerns about spending all this wasteful money,” according to a senior White House official who described Vought’s actions as “forcing Democrats to understand” the consequences of keeping the government closed.
“We are proposing [cuts to] programs that don’t fit the administration’s needs, but I wouldn’t say it’s an extension of DOGE,” the official said.
Vought’s plans also diverge from DOGE because of their different political goals: Musk’s group wanted to trim parts of a fully funded government that the White House saw as unnecessary, while the OMB chief is working more directly to impose pain on Democrats.
“The administration and Office of Management and Budget are taking this as an opportunity to have the agencies kind of re-address potential reductions in force and further efficiencies” following DOGE, said Rachel Greszler, who studies the public sector at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “But they’ve definitely done it within the context of: there’s a lapse of funding for these programs that are no longer allowed to operate.”
But both Vought and DOGE have focused on Trump’s opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, with the OMB chief citing potential “DEI principles” as a factor in his New York City funding freeze.
The Trump administration plans to keep some key services for taxpayers running during the shutdown. Americans will be able to visit national parks, receive Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefits, and access Medicare and Medicaid — though farmer resources will be constrained and food assistance could also be in jeopardy.
Some Republicans predicted the warnings about Vought’s budget-cutting were over the top and likely to be moderated, particularly if the government shutdown ends soon.
“I wouldn’t just go off the deep end thinking OMB’s just going to slash, slash, slash,” Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., said. “If this thing corrects itself in a very reasonable short of time, we’ll step back and make a more moderate approach.”
Still, the shot at blue state projects could make it impossible to deal with Democrats on future legislation. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., warned that targeting projects in blue states “can create a toxic environment here.”
“I just would hope they’d proceed carefully, because so much of what they think they’ll be undoing will make the next thing we do that much harder,” Cramer said. “It’s not like without a political cost.”
Democrats, meanwhile, sought to underscore that a government shutdown did not give the administration’s newfound power.
“We’re not actually increasing the legal authority Trump has,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said. “The fear here is that Trump, whether he has the legal authority or doesn’t, will act.”
Room for Disagreement
Some Republicans are on board with OMB’s push. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he supported Vought’s plans because they’ll rein in spending.
“I want a balanced budget, so I just want to take every opportunity to reduce the size of government we can,” Scott said. “If Russ can figure out how to reduce the size of government, I think he ought to be doing that.”
Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., said she views OMB’s agenda as separate from DOGE’s.
“I mean, we’re $37 trillion worth in debt,” McClain said. “We have to figure out how to be good stewards of the money that we have.”
Eleanor, Burgess, and Shelby’s View
If reviews like Cramer’s and Collins’ keep rolling in, it’s hard to imagine someone within the administration doesn’t tell Vought to cool it with his social media threats of new cuts.
Though Democrats are blocking a stopgap spending bill, the GOP controls the House, Senate, and White House and is going to shoulder some of the blame for the shutdown.
That makes it even more risky for OMB to hack away further at the federal government, an approach that Americans may support in the abstract — but not when it affects their daily lives.
Notable
- DOGE’s cancellation of government real estate leases is having a notable effect on the broader market, CNBC reports.