White House budget director advocates more funding for own agency, cuts for others

WASHINGTON — White House budget director Russ Vought testified before a U.S. House panel Tuesday that his agency needs lawmakers to increase its annual budget, even though he hasn’t spent much of the $100 million Republicans approved in their “big, beautiful” law.

That earlier funding, he said, is intended to help the agency keep track of fraud throughout the federal government and to oversee a substantial increase to the annual defense budget should Congress agree to provide the $1.5 trillion requested. 

“That would be one of those portfolios that we feel like we have nowhere near the number of (full-time employees) to be able to provide accountability for,” Vought said of the proposed defense budget. “And we are trying to invest in tools that would allow us to use technology to do OMB's work better.”

The Office of Management and Budget, the agency’s official title, would then use the increase in its annual funding level to update a computer system, provide security and pay rent in two locations while it moves office space.

OMB asked Congress to approve $146.1 million in its annual spending bill, which is supposed to become law before the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1. That would represent a 13.3% increase compared to its current funding level if both chambers agree to match the request. 

The $100 million that Republicans provided OMB in their “big, beautiful” law last year is in addition to the agency’s annual budget. 

Vought testified during a hearing before the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee the agency hopes to increase the number of full-time employees from about 500 to 675.

Whether other agencies will be able to bolster their funding levels and staffing will be up to their directors, Vought said. 

Proposed cuts across departments

The Trump administration’s fiscal 2027 budget request asked Congress to cut domestic spending by 10% and increase defense spending to $1.5 trillion, a $445 billion increase.

The proposal envisions cuts to spending across several departments, including Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Interior, Labor and State. 

Lawmakers from both political parties pressed Vought about staff reductions and funding cuts throughout the federal government, some of which were carried out by the U.S. Doge Service. 

New York Republican Rep. Nick LaLota asked why OMB allowed staffing at the World Trade Center Health Program to drop from 93 to 84 employees, despite it being approved for 120 people. 

“There were delays reported in claims of processing, treatment authorizations and enrollment appeals,” LaLota said. “For a program serving 9/11 first responders and survivors, what should have OMB's early warning indications have been that those staffing levels were dropping to dangerously low levels that would impede their ability to deliver on this important mission?”

Vought testified OMB was unaware of the issues at the program. 

“OMB does not have this all-encompassing view of what is happening across the entire federal government,” he said. “We are a nerve center, I would agree with that, but we do not have the ability to know everything that is happening in the agencies.”

Screwworm and foreign aid

Georgia Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop asked Vought a series of questions about whether cuts to staff at the USDA had an impact on the New World screwworm, which had resurfaced in the United States after six decades without a case.  

“We don't believe that this issue is under-resourced,” Vought said. “We believe that USDA has everything it needs to both create a long-term capability here and also find as many shots on goal to be able to deal with this in real time for farmers.”

Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan pressed Vought repeatedly during a tense exchange about whether cuts to foreign aid programs, including those at the U.S. Agency for International Development, led to deaths.

Vought said “there is nothing about those studies that has caused us to think differently about” the Trump administration's approach to foreign aid spending.  

Pocan asked Vought whether he believes it’s morally or ethically wrong “to facilitate the death of children.”

Vought responded he doesn’t believe the Trump administration’s actions have led to that and that the United States provides “adequate foreign aid.”