The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director, Russel Vought, testified in both the House and Senate last week, presenting the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) President’s Budget Request (PBR). In both hearings, Vought made extremely partisan remarks and struggled to provide concrete answers to questions about the PBR’s figures. Committee members on both sides of the aisle, and in both chambers, questioned defense funding and the Administration’s plans to lower costs plaguing Americans daily. Protests repeatedly interrupted Vought’s testimony in both chambers. Even after Capitol police officers escorted the protestors out, they could be heard in the hallway.
[House Hearing] [ Senate Hearing]
Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Chair of the House Budget Committee, opened with aspirational comments about the responsibility of Congress to serve the needs of Americans. The Chair quickly pivoted to partisan remarks on the national debt and the failed policies of previous administrations, applauding the work of Vought and the Trump Administration to rebuild the economy. Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-PA) focused his attention on facts and data, urging Vought to provide a clear explanation for the decision to dramatically increase defense spending.
For defense, the PBR proposes for $1.15 trillion, a 42 percent increase from last year’s request, while cutting non-defense spending by 10 percent to $660 billion—figures that Vought defended as necessary to rein in “woke spending.” These two topline figures establish the total funding available to be divided among the 12 appropriations subcommittees, each of which is responsible for funding a distinct set of federal agencies and programs. Despite the substantial increase in defense spending, Vought refused to share actual costs of the war in Iran with both House and Senate committee members when prompted. In his House testimony, Vought also defended the PBR’s proposal to “close the Department of Education (ED),” stating that substantial funds would still flow into communities for education, though he shared no further information on what that funding mechanism might look like.
Committee member Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), who also serves as the Ranking Member of the Health Subcommittee, pressed Vought on the Administration’s attack on federal science agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Doggett urged Vought to supply reasoning for the funding cuts at both agencies, to which Vought ignored NIH but noted that NSF’s operations will continue to support research around artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum physics.
In the Senate, Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) remarked this is the best military budget proposal he has seen but drew attention to the danger posed by the lack of funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). On the other side of the aisle, Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR) focused his questioning on the need to defund border patrol and the sizable defense budget, calling this proposal a “families lose, billionaires win budget.” Numerous Democratic senators accused Vought and the Administration of impoundment—effectively refusing to release congressionally-appropriated funds. Vought carried a similar tune in the Senate as he did in the House, blaming the Biden Administration for failures and praising Trump’s extreme tactics to cut costs when he took office. Funding for federal science agencies was not brought up by any committee members in the Senate.
