Russ Vought tangled with members of the House Budget Committee on Wednesday, as he faced questions on the details of his own home energy bill and pleas urging him to pleas to support disaster recovery funds.
The White House budget director appeared before the panel for the first time since stepping into the role over a year ago and less than two weeks after the White House released its fiscal 2027 spending proposal.
The hearing quickly turned into a venting session for Democrats who were furious about proposed cuts to energy assistance and climate programs. It was more of a pep rally for Republicans, who used the Tax Day hearing to celebrate the administration’s spending reductions and tax reductions.
Throughout it all, Vought asserted that the administration is dead set on continuing the slash-and-burn fiscal posture it honed last year, and that numerous energy and climate programs are riddled with fraud and deserve to be eliminated.
