President-elect Donald Trump is considering giving Russell Vought, his previous Office of Management and Budget director, his old job back. If tapped for the role, Vought would lead the powerful office tasked with reviewing federal regulations and developing the president’s budget.
Vought, a prominent contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 initiative to draft proposals for a second Trump administration, is among the people being seriously considered for the post, according to three people familiar with the transition effort granted anonymity to discuss the considerations.
Vought has been working for months behind the scenes to prepare Trump’s economic and trade policy agenda alongside Trump campaign policy chair Vince Haley and former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who himself is in contention for a top economic job, according to one of the people with knowledge of the transition.
Vought’s nomination to OMB would solidify a revival for the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for a second Trump administration that Democrats attacked repeatedly in an attempt to paint Trump as an extremist. The president-elect repeatedly disavowed the initiative on the campaign trail. And the head of personnel for his transition team, Howard Lutnick, called the Heritage Foundation “radioactive.”
