White House budget director nominee Vought advances despite Democratic protest

The Senate Budget Committee on Thursday advanced Russell Vought’s nomination as Office of Management and Budget director, despite the panel’s 10 Democrats skipping the vote in protest.

All 11 Republicans on the panel had to show up for the vote to form a quorum. It took 17 minutes for them to assemble amid multiple conflicting committee meetings, but the panel Republicans all voted to send Mr. Vought’s nomination to the floor. 

Democrats have universally opposed Mr. Vought’s nomination over disagreements over which branch of government has the final pull of the purse strings. 

Those disagreements were underscored this week when OMB issued a memo freezing federal financial assistance across an array of grant and loan programs. The White House later rescinded the memo, but Democrats said they fear Mr. Vought will do more damage if confirmed. 

Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham had not planned to acknowledge the Democrats’ absence until one of his colleagues asked where they were. 

“They chose not to be here,” the South Carolina Republican said. “It’s their right not to be here.”

Sen. Bernie Moreno, Ohio Republican, called the Democrats’ protest “extremely juvenile.”

“This isn’t high school musical here,” he said. 

The Budget Committee Democrats held a press conference instead of attending the vote, saying their protest was in part because Republicans held the vote outside of the committee’s traditional meeting room. 

Press was allowed to attend the vote, held in a room just off the Senate floor, but it wasn’t recorded on camera for the public to watch. 

“We’re not going to be complicit in a behind-the-scenes vote on a very consequential nominee,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat, said, calling Mr. Vought “unqualified and unfit to lead the OMB.”