Trump Budget Chief to Lead Government Efficiency Push as Musk Steps Down
President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing for another bold shift in Washington. As Elon Musk prepares to step down from his leadership role at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), White House budget chief Russell Vought is expected to take the reins.
Vought, currently serving as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, is slated to oversee the agency’s operations with a clear mandate: scale back bloated federal spending and restore accountability. According to The Wall Street Journal, Vought will coordinate closely with Congress to recover misused taxpayer funds, reclassify entrenched federal employees, and advance his 2025 budget proposal—an aggressive plan to shrink the size and scope of the federal government.
Vought has long worked alongside Musk behind the scenes, championing the rollback of excessive federal regulations. He’s praised President Trump’s commitment to regulatory reform, recalling the President’s promise to “eliminate ten regulations for every one imposed.”
While conservatives hail Vought’s appointment as a strategic move toward fiscal sanity, it’s already drawing ire from Democrats. Much of the criticism centers around Vought’s role in crafting Project 2025, a comprehensive conservative blueprint outlining reforms for Trump’s second term. Leftist critics have decried the plan—particularly its proposals to restructure Social Security and Medicare, and to phase out the Department of Homeland Security—even though President Trump has distanced himself from certain elements of the document.
Despite the outcry, Trump has placed his full confidence in Vought, entrusting him with the mission to execute Musk’s sweeping cost-cutting vision. The results have already begun to shake the capital, with entire federal agencies shuttered and bureaucracies trimmed.
DOGE’s priorities for the months ahead include aggressive regulatory rollbacks, consistent with President Trump’s February executive order directing department heads to revoke “unlawful rules.” The administration is also moving to reintroduce Schedule F, the executive order originally signed during Trump’s first term to strip civil service protections from entrenched bureaucrats. Though repealed under the Biden administration, Trump reinstated it immediately after returning to office in January.
Vought is also expected to urge Congress to approve Trump’s $9.3 billion rescissions package. The proposal targets funds from left-leaning institutions such as the State Department, USAID, National Public Radio, and PBS—agencies long criticized by conservatives as wasteful and ideologically biased.
Still, Vought’s fiscal discipline has caused friction, even within the Republican ranks. His firm stance against automatic increases in military spending has drawn a line between himself and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Under Vought’s budget strategy, any military spending increases must go through budget reconciliation rather than be automatically baked into annual budgets—effectively halting the Pentagon’s budget growth unless justified and negotiated.
Some GOP lawmakers, believing Hegseth had assured them of rising defense budgets, now fear that relying on one-time reconciliation increases may shortchange America’s military readiness. The Wall Street Journal reports that many now blame Vought for what they perceive as a potential funding shortfall.
Vought, however, remains unmoved. He has rejected Democrats’ demands for “parity”—the notion that defense budget hikes must be matched with increased domestic spending. Instead, he’s pushing for a leaner, targeted fiscal approach.
As The Journal noted, the reconciliation strategy favored by Vought offers a path around the traditional budget process. His initial proposal slashes non-defense discretionary spending by $163 billion while adding roughly $120 billion to active legislative initiatives via reconciliation.
With Vought at the helm, President Trump’s administration appears more determined than ever to restore financial responsibility and constitutional order to the federal government.