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Committee member presses OMB Director Russell Vought to testify, cites debt, healthcare cuts and war costs
Summary
A House Budget Committee member said OMB Director Russell Vought has been "MIA" for 15 months and urged him to testify, raising claims about the Republican tax law's impact on the deficit, a CBO projection of 15 million people losing health coverage, $11 billion in withheld disaster aid, and a potential $200 billion Iran war cost.
A member of the House Budget Committee urged Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to appear before the panel, saying Vought has not testified in 15 months and questioning whether he is avoiding public scrutiny.
“His name is Russell Vought. He is the OMB Director and for 15 months, Mr. Vought has been MIA,” the committee member (S1) said, asking witnesses and the public to report any information to the committee: “Where is he?”
The member cited recent public-opinion polling on the president’s handling of the economy and cost-of-living measures, including a Reuters poll showing 29% approval and a Yahoo-YouGov poll showing 26% approval on cost-of-living issues, arguing that those low numbers help explain why the OMB director might be reluctant to testify.
The lawmaker also criticized the 2017 Republican tax law, saying it has produced long-term fiscal consequences and asserted that Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates show large effects on coverage. “The Republican tax bill they passed and the president signed into law last July, which included of course, the largest healthcare cuts in American history, with CBO projecting that 15 million Americans will lose their health care as a result of that bill,” the member said.
On federal borrowing, the committee member said the tax law has contributed to a $4.7 trillion increase in the national debt and added that “no other piece of legislation in American history increased deficit and debt more than the Republican tax bill they passed this past summer.” The statement was presented by the speaker as a factual claim; the committee record does not include an on-the-record response or independent verification during this hearing.
The member also raised oversight concerns about executive branch budget actions, alleging that OMB carried out “illegal impoundments” last spring and specifically saying the agency withheld $11 billion in disaster relief funding to states. The speaker did not cite a response from OMB in the hearing.
Turning to national security spending, the lawmaker said Budget Committee Republicans planned a closed meeting with Defense Department officials and questioned the full cost of military action in Iran. The member referenced a $200 billion figure that has been discussed publicly about the possible cost of the conflict and framed that sum as a major fiscal trade-off: “That is enough money that you could have extended the Obamacare tax credits in full for seven years.”
The speaker closed by urging a facts-based, actionable approach to deficit reduction: that any goal-setting be followed quickly by step two — a plan — rather than remaining an unfulfilled resolution. With that, the committee member yielded back.
The transcript does not record a response from Russell Vought or an announcement of when he will appear before the committee, nor does it record committee votes or formal actions on these points during the remarks.
